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empreinte. 

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dernidre  image  de  chaque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  -4»  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifi«i  "FIN". 

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et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nteessaire.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1  2  3 


1  2  3 

4  5  6 


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Oil*?  V  UJtt\f4W. 


A  RHODE  ISLAND  PHIUOSOPHER. 


AN  .ADDRESS    DBLIVBRBD    BEFORE    THE   RHODE  ISLAND 
MEDICAL   SOCIETY,   DEC.   7th,    i899- 


BY 


William  Osler,  M.  D., 


PROFESSOR   OP   MBMaNB.    JOHNS   HOPiaNS    UNIVERSITY. 


WHIi  an  Appendix  containing  Dr.  Bartlbtt's 
sketcli  of  Hippocrates. 


■■^*1 


*   -J^ 


ELISHA   BARTLETT, 


A  Rhode  Island  Philosopher, 


AN   ADDRESS    DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE    RHODE    ISLAND 
MEDICAL   SOCIETY,    DEC.   7TH,    1899, 


BY 


William   Osler,   M.  D., 


PROFESSOR    OF    MEDICINE,   JOHNS   HOPKINS   UNIVERSITY. 


With  an  Appendix  containing  Dr.  Bartlett's 
sketch  of   Hippocrates. 


i 


PROVIDENCE  : 

Snow  &  Far.nham,   rRi\TEKs, 

1900. 


[  Reprinted  from  the  Transactions  of  the  Rhode  Island  Medical 
Society,  for  1899.  ]  -aieuicai 


ELISHA    BARTLETT, 
A    RHODE    ISLAND    PHILOSOPHER. 


liical 


Rhode  Island  can  boast  of  but  one  great  philosopher,  —  one 
to  whose  flights  in  the  empyrean  neither  Roger  Williams  nor 
any  of  her  sons  could  soar,  —  tlie  immortal  Berkeley,  who 
was  a  trmisient  guest  in  this  State,  waiting  quietly  and  hap- 
pily for  the  realization  of  his  Eutopimi  schemes.  Still  he 
lived  long  enough  in  Rhode  Island  to  make  his  name  part  of 
her  history ;  long  enougli  in  America  to  make  her  the  in- 
spiration of  his  celebrated  lines  on  the  course  of  empire. 
Elisha  Bartlett,  teacher,  philosopher,  author,  of  whom  I  am 
about  to  speak,  whom  you  may  claim  as  the  most  distin- 
guished physician  of  this  State,  lias  left  no  deep  impression  on 
your  local  history  or  institutions.  Here  he  was  born  and  ed- 
ucated, and  to  this,  his  home,  he  returned  to  die ;  but  his 
busy  life  Avas  spent  in  other  fields,  where  to-day  his  memory 
is  cherished  more  warmly  than  in  the  land  of  his  birth. 

I. 

Born  at  Smithfield  in  1804,  Bartlett  was  singularly  for-  birth  akd 
tunate  in  his  parents,  who  were  members  of  the  Society  of  ''ovhood. 
Friends,  strong,  earnest  souls,  well  endowed  with  graces  of 
the  head  and  of  the  heart.  Tlie  gentle  hfe,  the  zeal  for 
practical  righteousness  and  the  simplicity  of  the  faith  of  the 
followers  of  Fox,  put  a  hall-mark  on  the  sensitive  youth 
which  the  rough  usage  of  the  world  never  obHterated.  No 
account  of  Bartlett's  early  life  and  school-days  exists  —  an 
index  that  they  were  happy  and  peaceful.  We  may  read  in 
his  poem  called  "An  Allegory,"  certain  autobiographical  de- 
tails, transferring  the 

"  3Iead(>w  and  field,  and  forest,  dale  and  hill  ; 
Orchards,  green  hedgerows,  gardens,  stately  trees," 

from  the  old  England  which  he  describes  to  the  banks  of 
Narragansett  Bay.  Paraphrasing  other  parts  of  tlie  poem,  we 
may  say  that  auspicious  stars  slione  over  his  cradle  with  the 


4 

kinclliost  liglit  nnd  promise,  and  amid  the  j,'enial  nirof  a  New 
England  home,  gooihiess,  trnth  and  ht-antv  were  his  portion. 
He  tells  of  the  wonder  and  delight  stirred  in  his  young  soul 
by  the  thousand  tales  of  » fairies  and  genii,  giants,  dwarfs 
and  that  redoubtable  and  valiant  Jaek  who  slew  the  giants." 
Then,  as  the  days  lengthened,  he  came  under  the  si)ell  of 
"  The  Arabian  Nights  "  and  of  "  Hobinson  Crusoe."  Looking 
back  in  after  years,  he  compared  this  hearty,  wholesome  life 
to  some  Ixmnteous  spring  that  wells  wp  irum  the  deep  heart 
()f  the  earth.  Addison,  Goldsmith  and  Washington  Irvhig 
filled  his  soul  with  freshness  like  the  dawn, 


Medioal 
education 
and  gradu. 
ation. 


Life  in 
Paris. 


"And  led  by  love  and  kindness,  ran  tlie  liours 
Their  merry  round  till  boylnx.d  ])assed  away." 

In  the  ruder  'discipline  and  strife  of  school  and  college  he 
grew  to  manhood  with  (as  he  expressed  it)  "a  fine  free 
healthfuhiess,"  imd  with  faculties  self-])oised  and  balanced. 

At  Sniithfield,  at  Uxbridge,  and  at  a  well-known  Friends' 
institution  in  New  York,  IJartlett  obtained  a  very  thorough 
preliminary  education.  Details  of  his  medical  course  are  m^t 
•  at  hand,  but  after  studying  with  Dr.  Willard,  of  Uxbridge, 
Drs.  Greene  and  Heywood,  of  Worcester,  and  Dr.  Levi 
Wheaton,  of  Providence,  and  attending  medical  lectures  at 
Boston  and  at  Providence,  he  took  his  doctor's  degree  at 
Brown  rniversity  in  1820,  a  year  before  the  untimely  end  of 
the  medical  department,  i 

In  June,  182t5,  Bartlett  sailed  f..r  Euroi)e,  and  the  letters 
to  his  sisters,  which,  with  other  P.artlett  papers,  have  been 
kindly  sent  me  by  his  nephew,  the  Hon.  Willard  liartlett,  of  the 
New  \  ork  Court  of  Appeals,  give  a  delightful  account  of  his 
year  as  a  student  aljroad.  Ihi  remained  in  Paris  until  De- 
cember ;  then,jn  company  with  his  fellow-student.  Dr.  South- 

>  Parsons  closi-s  his  y/,Von',v(/  Tract  n„  the  Brown  nuvprsitv ^f('diral School ^vith 
tlie  sentence.  "  W  Ijotlier  tl.is  city,  tlie  second  in  New  Knglaml  simll  I  .T,  „e  n^  " 
of  such  a  school  (that  is,  a  revive.l  department  of  in(.(li,Tne  must  il  m  mV(1  vU  v  n,T 
on  the  zea  ,  persistence  and  aliility  of'its  physicians.-  May       e  pern  t  e  dV.)  i^e.       k 
3Ir.  Presuleut  that  the  existing  conditions  are  singularly  •f:iv,)rale  for  i  si    lUt^'rst' 
ela.-s  school      Uere  are  college  laboratories  of  physics,  cheniistrv  !'i      hf.    ')iry    TnH 
vehwr  ,"■'■'  •••"".'T'-'l  I'"^l'itals,  with  some  thVee  hmwlred"  Ms^   WI  a    is    fi^kii?  •' 
Neither  zeal,   )er.sistence  nor  ahility  on  the  part  of  th..  physicians         t  t      .neimw 

iK^come  forsmall  medical  schools  in   uni>'^rstky"towi:r  wUh  ^^^od  cUnical  nicilf^ 


5 


wick,  he  visited  the  chief  cities  of  Italy,  roturning  to  Paris 
early  in  March.  The  month  of  May,  1827,  was  spent  in 
London,  and  he  sailed  t'nun  Liverpool  Jiuie  Hth.  Unfortu- 
nately the  letters  to  his  sisters  contain  very  few  references  to 
his  medical  studies,  hut  I  have  extracted  a  few  memoranda 
from  them. 

Writing  Aug.  24,  182»),  he  says:  " The celehrated  Laennec 
died  at  his  country  residence  on  the  13th  of  the  present 
month.  The  puhlieation  in  1810  of  a  new  method  of  ascer- 
taining diseases  of  the  cliest  forms  an  era  in  the  history  of 
medicine.  M.  Laennec  fell  a  victim  to  one  of  those  diseases 
the  investigation  of  whicii  hy  himself  has  enriched  the  lield 
of  science,  contrihuted  to  the  alleviation  of  human  suffering, 
and  giving  his  own  name  a  high  rank  among  the  great  and 
the  good  men  of  his  age."  He  asked  that  this  memorandum 
should  appear  in  the  Providence  pai)ers. 

Writing  Septemher  4th,  he  speaks  of  attending  ever}'  day 
at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  to  hear  the  lectures  of  Cloquet  and 
Cuvier. 

(^ne  of  the  professors  at  the  medical  school,  he  says,  looked 
more  like  a  jolly  stage  driver  or  a  good-natured,  Iilustering 
hutcher  than  anything  else.  "  He  lectures  sometimes  stand- 
ing, and  sometimes  leaning  against  a  post,  or  straddling  over 
a  high  stool,  flourishing  a  lancet  in  one  hand  and  a  snuif-hox 
in  the  other,  on  the  contents  of  whicii  he  is  continually  laying 
the  most  inordinate  contrilmtions.  He  wears  during  the  time 
an  old  rnsty  looking  hlack  cap.  The  familiarity  of  the  dis- 
tinguished surgeons  and  physicians  with  their  students  struck 
me  at  first  sight  very  forcihly,  heing  in  such  perfect  contrast 
to  the  proud  port  and  haughty  carriage  of  some  of  our  Xew 
England  professors.  I  wish  they  might  step  into  the  Hotel 
Dieu  and  Ija  Charity  and  take  a  lesson  or  two  of  lioj-er  and 
Dupuytren,  harons  of  the  Empire,  and  t\vo  of  the  most  distin- 
guished surgeons  in  the  world." 

In  the  letter  of  Octoi)er  10th,  he  says  :  "The  pu!)lic  lec- 
tures opened  this  week,  and  we  are  continually  engaged  from 
half  past  six  in  the  moi'uing  till  bed  time.  Msits  are  made 
at  all  the  hospitals  hy  candle  liglit.  and  a  lecture  delivered  at 
most  of  them  inanediately  after  the  visit." 

He  speaks  of  attending  the  lectures  of  Geoft'rov  St.  Ilil- 
laire,  wlio,  he  says,  "lectures  very  liadly:  his  gestures,  though 
he  is  a  Frenchnuui,  are  exccedinglv  awkwai'd,  and  he  has  a 


6 

8in^'-song  tone  like  tlmt  which  one  often  liears  in  aMetliodist 
or  l^uakcr  itiviii  her." 

J. ike  Oliver  Weiitlell  Holmes,  Hurtlett  pvohahly  iicqiiired 
in  i'aris  three  i)rinciple8:  "  Not  to  take  authority  when  I  ean 
have  facta ;  not  to  guess  when  I  can  know ;  not  to  think  a 
man  must  take  jHiysic  herause  he  is  sick."  '^ 

Strangely  enough  I  find  no  reference  in  these  Paris  letters 
to  the  man  of  all  others  who  intivienced  Hartlett  most  deeply. 
In  Louis,  even  more  than  in  Laennec,  the  young  American 
students  of  that  day  found  light  and  leading.  The  numeri- 
cal  method,  based  on  a  painstaking  study  of  all  the  phenomena 
of  disease  in  the  wards  and  in  the  dead-house,  appealed  with 
l)eculiar  force  to  their  practical  minds,  and  Louis's  hrilliant 
ohservations  on  phthisis  and  on  fevers  constituted,  as  IJart- 
lett  remarked,  a  new  and  great  era  in  the  history  of  medical 
science.  I  cannot  find  any  definite  statement  of  Bartlett's 
rehitii»ns  with  Louis  in  1820-27,  at  which  period  the  latter 
was  still  working  quietly  at  La  Charity.  His  monograpii  on 
phthisis  had  been  published  in  1825,  and  had  at  once  given 
him  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  great  lights  of  the  French 
school.  He  was  at  this  time  very  busy  collecting  material 
for  his  still  more  important  work  on  ty[)hoid  fever,  and  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  Bartlett  could  have  frequented  La 
Charity  without  meeting  the  grave,  unobtrusive  student,  who, 
with  note  book  in  hand,  literally  lived  in  the  wards  and  in 
the  dead-house.  Secluded  from  the  world,  living  as  a  volun- 
tary assistant  to  Chomel  in  this  quiet  haven  of  observation, 
apart  from  the  turbid  seas  of  speculation  which  surged  outr 
side,  Louis  for  seven  years  pursued  his  remarkable  career. 
Whether  or  not  Bartlett  came  into  personal  contact  with  iiim 
at  this  time  I  do  not  know,  but,  however,  this  may  be,  sub- 
seciuently  the  great  French  clinician  became  his  model  and 
his  master,  and  to  him  he  dedicated  his  first  edition  of  the 
"Fevers,"  and  his  "Essay  on  the  Philosophy  of  Medical 
Science." 

For  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  these  letters  —  written  off- 
liand  —  show  an  unusually  good  literary  style,  and  many  in- 
cidental references  indicate  that  lie  had  received  a  general 
education  much  above  the  average.  The  strong  Christian 
spirit  which  he  felt  all  through  life  is  already  manifest,  as 
may  l»e  gleaned  from  one  or  two  expressions  in   the  letters. 

-  Morse's  Life  of  Holmes,  vol.  i.,  p.  109. 


Writing'  Sept.  4,  182(5,  to  liis  sisters,  he  refers  to  the  death  of 
n  (leiir  tVieiid  and  her  little  sister:  "  There  is  a  cheering eon- 
sohitioii  in  the  rellectiim  that  »  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,'  and  that  their  si)irits  Imve  gone  in  ])erfeet  and  sin- 
less purity  to  their  home  of  bliss,  and  we  may  believe  that 
they  in  their  turn  have  become  guardian  angels  to  those  who 
cherished  and  protected  them  here  : 

'  Tliey  were  their  Ruanlian  angels  here, 
Tliey  guardian  angels  now  to  them.'  " 


In  1827,  shortly  after  completing  his  twenty-third  year,  injn 
liartlett  settled  at  Lowell,  then  a  town  of  only  3,500  inhabi- 
tants, but  growing  rapidly,  owing  to  the  establisiiment  of 
numerous  mills.  This  was  his  home  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
and  to  it,  and  later  to  Woonsocket,  lie  returned  in  the  inter- 
vals between  his  college  work  in  different  sections  of  the 
country.  As  Dr.  I).  C.  Pattersim  remarks,  "He  became  at 
once  the  universal  favorite,  and  began  to  take  a  deep  interest 
in  the  physical  welfare  of  the  townsmen."  In  1828  he  de- 
livered lectures  before  the  Lowell  Lyceum  on  contagious 
diseases,  and  he  gave  frequent  popular  lectures  on  sanitation 
and  hygiene.  In  1828  he  was  the  orator  on  the  Fourth  of 
July.  In  1836  he  delivered  a  course  of  popular  lectures  on 
physiology. 

Evidently  Bartlett  had  the  "  grace  of  favor  "  in  a  remark- 
able degree.  Bishop  Clark  pictures  him  in  those  days  in  the 
following  words  :  "  Some  twenty-five  years  ago,  I  used  to 
meet  a  young  man  in  the  town  of  Lowell,  whose  presence 
carried  sunshine  wherever  he  went ;  whose  tenderness  and 
skill  relieved  the  darkness  of  many  a  chamber  of  sickness, 
and  whom  all  the  conununity  were  fast  learning  to  love  and 
honor.  Life  lay  before  liim,  full  of  promise ;  the  delicate 
temper  of  his  soul  fitting  him  to  the  most  exquisite  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  pure  delights  of  nature,  and  his  cheerful  tem- 
perament giving  a  genial  and  geiu'rous  glow  to  the  refined 
circles  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  ehiefest  ornaments." 

When  only  thirty-two,  before  he  had  been  in  Lowell  ten 
years,  he  was  elected  by  a  respectable  majority  as  the  first 
mayor  of  the  city,  and  he  was  re-elected  the  following  year. 
A  letter  frt)m  the  Hon.  Caleb  Cushing,  dated  April  20, 1841, 
gives  us  an  idea  of  the  estimate  which  a  clear  headed  layman 


ractice 
weU. 


8 


Defence 
of  the 
"  mill- 
girls." 


Visit  of 
Dicliens. 


placed  upou  him.  "  Dr.  Bartlett  enjoys  in  the  city  of  Lowell 
the  unqualified  respect  oi"  that  community,  and  its  affection- 
ate esteem,  —  respect  and  esteem  due  alike  to  his  public  re- 
lations to  that  city,  as  formerly  its  popular  and  useful  chief 
magistrate,  and  at  all  times  one  of  its  most  patriotic  and 
valued  citizens ;  to  his  unblemished  integrity  of  character 
and  amenity  of  deportment ;  to  his  eminence  in  his  profes- 
sion ;  to  the  endearments  of  private  friendship  ;  and  in  gen- 
eral to  his  talents,  accomplishments,  manners  and  princi- 
ples." 

To  two  interesting  episodes  in  his  life  at  Lowell  I  may  re- 
fer at  greater  length.     The  rapid  growth  of  the  industries  in 
Lowell  had  brought  in  from  the  surrounding  country  a  very 
large  number  of  young  girls  as  operatives  in  the   mills,  and 
their  physical  and  moral   condition   had   been  seriously  im- 
pugned by  writers  in  certain  leading  Boston  papers.      These 
charges  were  investigated  in  a  most  thorough  way  by  Bart- 
lett, who  published  in  the  Lowell   Courier  in  18B9,   and  re- 
published in  pamphlet  form  (1841)  his  well-known  "Vindi- 
cation of  the  Character  and  Condition   of  the  Females  Em- 
ployed  in   the    Lowell   Mills."      This    veiy    strong  paper, 
based  on  careful  personal   investigations,   really  proved  to 
be  what  the  title   indicated.     It   did   not,   however,   escape 
adverse    criticism,    and    among    the   Bartlett   papers   there 
is  a   review  cf   the   "Vindication"  by  a  citizen  of  Lowell 
in  1842,  which  presents  the  other  side  of   a  picture,  by  no 
means  a  pleasant  one,  of   the  prolonged  iiours  of   the  opera- 
tives and  their  wretched  life  hi  boarding-houses. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  incidents  of  his  life  at  this  pe- 
riod was  tlie  reception  to  Dickens,  whose  visit  to  Lowell  oc- 
curred during  Dr.  Bartlett*s  mayoralty.  In  the  "American 
Notes  "  Dickens  speaks  of  tlie  girls^is  "  healthy  in  appear- 
ance, many  of  tliem  remarkably  so,  and  had  the  manners  and 
deportment  of  3-oung  women,  not  of  degraded  brutes  of  bur- 
den." Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says,  referring  to  tliis  occa- 
sion: "I  liave  been  told  a  distinguished  foreign  visitor 
(Cliaj-les  Dickens),  wlio  went  through  the  wliole  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  said  tliat  of  all  the  many  welcomes  he 
received  from  statesmen  renowned  as  orators,  from  men 
whose  profession  is  eloquence,  not  one  was  so  impressive  and 
felicitous  as  tliat  which  was  spoken  by  Dr.  Bartleti,  then 
mayor  of  Lowell,  our  brotlier  in  tlie  silent  profession,  which 
he  graced  \\  iih  lliest  unwonted  accomplishments." 


9 


"i 

I 


Oliver 
Wendell 
Holmes' 
descrip- 


In  1840  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
INIassachiisetts  and  served  two  terms.  In  1845  he  was  nomi- 
nated by  the  Governor  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
of  the  State  in  the  place  of  Jared  Sparks.  Holmes,  who  was 
familiar  with  Bartlett  in  this  period  of  his  career,  has  left  on 
record  the  following  charming  description :  "  It  is  easy  to  re- 
call his  ever-welcome  and  gracious  presence.  On  his  ex-  jj^g^,., 
panded  forehead  no  one  could  fail  to  trace  the  impress  of  a  t^n  of 
large  and  calm  intelligence.  In  liis  most  open  aud  beaming 
smile  none  could  help  feeling  the  warmth  of  a  heart  which 
was  the  seat  of  all  generous  and  kindly  affections.  When  he 
spoke  his  tones  were  of  singular  softness,  his  thoughts  came 
in  chosen  Avords,  scholarlike,  5'et  unpretending,  often  playful, 
always  full  of  lively  expressions,  giving  the  idea  of  one  that 
could  be  dangerously  keen  in  nis  judgments,  had  he  not  kept 
his  fastidiousness  to  himself,  and  his  charity  to  sheathe  the 
weakness  of  others.  In  familiar  intercourse  —  and  the  wTiter 
of  these  paragraphs  was  once  under  the  same  roof  with  him 
for  some  months  —  no  one  could  lie  more  companionable  and 
winning  in  all  his  ways.  The  little  trials  of  life  he  took 
kindly  and  cheerily,  turning  into  pleasantly  the  petty  incon- 
veniences which  a  less  thoroughly  good-natuied  man  would 
have  fretted  over." 

IT- 

For  many  years  there  was  in  this  country  a  poup  of  peri-  teacher. 
patetic  teachers  who  like  the  So})liists  of  Greece,  went  from 
town  to  town,  staying  a  year  or  two  in  each,  or  they  divided 
their  time  between  a  winter  session  in  a  lavnt'  citv  school  and 
a  summer  term  in  a  small  country  one.  Among  them  Daniel 
Drake  takes  the  precedence,  as  he  made  eleven  moves  in  the 
course  of  his  stirring  and  eventful  life.  Bartlett  comes  an 
easy  second,  having  taught  in  nine  schools.  Dunglison,  T. 
K.  Beck,  AV  ard  Parker.  Alonzo  Clark,  the  elder  (xross, 
Austin  Flint,  Frank  IT.  Hamilton,  and  many  others  wliom 
I  could  name,  belonged  to  this  group  of  wandering  pro- 
fessors. The  medical  education  of  the  day  was  almost  ex- 
olusivel}-  theoretical ;  the  tenchers  lectured  for  a  sliort  four 
months"  session,  there  was  a  litile  dissection,  a  few  major 
operations  were  witnessed,  the  fees  were  paid,  examinations 
were  iield — and  all  was  over.     No  wonder,  under  such  eon- 


JjBaHw«>. 


At 
PJttsfielcl. 


10 

clitions,  that  many  of  the  most  flourishing  schools  were  found 
amid  sylvan  groves  in  small  country  towns.     In  New  Eng- 
land  there   were   five   such   schools,   and   in  the    State  of 
New  York    the    well-known   schools   at   Fairfield    and    at 
Geneva.     As  there  was    not   enougli  practice  in  the  small 
places  to  go  round,  the  teachers  for  the  most  part  stayed 
only    for    the    session,    at    the   end   of  which  it  was  not 
unusual  for  the  major  part  of  the  faculty,  with  the  students 
to  migrate  to  another  institution,  where  the  lectures  were  re- 
peated and  the  class  graduated.     T.  II.  Beck's  hitroductory 
lecture,  in  1824,  at  Fairfield,  "On  the   Utility  of  Country 
Medical  Institutions,"  pictures  in  glowing  terms  tlieir  advan- 
tages.    One  sentence  brought  to  my  mind  the  picture  of  a 
fine  old  doctor,  on  the  Niagara  peninsula,  a  graduate  of  Fair- 
field, who  possibly  may  have  listened  to  this  very  address. 
Dr.  Beck   asks:    "What  is  the  clhiical  instruction  of  the 
country  student  ?     It  is  this  —  after  attenfling  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  several  branches  of  medicine  and  becoming 
acquainted  with  their  general  bearing,  he  during  the  summer 
repairs  to  the  office  of  a  practitioner ;  attends  him  in  his  visits 
to  his  patients ;  views  the  diseases  peculiar  to  the  different 
districts ;  observes  the  treatment  that  situation  or  habits  of 
life  indicate  and  from  day  to  day  verifies  the  lessons  he  has 
received.     Here,  then,  is  a  direct  preparation  for  tlie  life  he 
intends  to  pursue."     And  I  may  say  that  it  was  just  this 
training  that  made  of  my  old  friend  one  of  the  best  general 
practitioners  it  has  ever  been  my  pleasure  to  know. 

In  the  letters  we  can  follow  Bartlett's  wanderings  during 
the  next  twenty  years,  from  the  time  of  his  appointment  to 
one  of  the  smallest  of  the  schools  to  his  final  position  as  one 
of  the  chief  ornaments  of  the  leading  school  of  New  York. 
In  1832  he  held  his  first  teaching  position,  that  of  professor 
of  pathological  anatomy  and  of  materia  medica  in  the  Berk- 
shire Medical  Institute,  at  Pittsfield.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  a  letter  to  Dr.  John  Orne  Green,  dated  Pitts- 
field,  J^ovember  25,  1833:  "The  character  of  the  class  is 
said  to  be  superior  even  to  that  of  last  year.  We  have  a 
large  numljer  of  excellent  students.  Parker  is  as  i)opulav  as 
ever,  nnd  Professor  Childs  has  the  credit  of  liaving  improved 
very  much  in  liis  manner  of  teaching.  Tlie  members  of  the 
class  are  attentive  to  their  studies,  eager  for  knowledge,  and 
regular  in  their  attendance  on  the  lectures.     I  have  lectures, 


$ 


11 


^ere  found 
New  Eng- 
State  of 
[  aiid  at 
the  small 
art  stayed 
was  not 
3  students 
s  were  I'e- 
roductory 
f  Country 
eir  advan- 
ture  of  a 
;e  of  Fair- 
Y  address. 
)n  of  the 
course  of 
becoming 
3  summer 
his  visits 
different 
habits  of 
IS  he  has 
le  life  he 
just  this 
t  general 

;s  during 
tnient  to 
11  as  one 
nv  York, 
professor 
the  Berk- 
ng  is  an 
ed  Pitts- 
3  chiss  is 
3  have  a 
3pular  as 
niproved 
rs  of  the 
idge,  and 
lectures, 


I 


most  of  the  time,  twice  a  day,  at  10  A.  m.  and  at  2  p.  M.  I 
shall  finish  my  course  on  materia  medica  by  the  middle  of 
this  week,  and  the  remainder  of  my  time  will  be  occupied 
with  lectures  of  medical  jurisprudence  and  pathological  an- 
atomy. The  commencement  will  be  on  Wednesday  of  week 
after  next." 

He  held  the  chair  at  Pittsfield  for  eight  sessions.  Among 
his  colleagues  were  Childs,  Dewey  and  Willard  Parker,  who 
was  a  very  special  friend.  In  a  letter  of  October  2,  1836,  he 
says :  "  Parker,  with  his  sunny  face  and  his  hearty  welcome, 
was  in  a  few  minutes  after  my  arrival.  It  does  one  good  to 
meet  such  men." 

In  1839  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  practice  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  Hanover,  N.  H.,  the  school  founded  by 
Nathan  Smith  in  1798.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Green, 
dated  September  8th,  he  gives  brief  sketches  of  some  of  his 
colleagues,  among  them  a  delightful  account  of  Oliver  Wen- 
dell llolmes,  then  a  young  mun  of  thirty.  "  Dr.  Holmes  you 
know  sometliing  of.  As  a  teacher  there  is  no  doubt  of  his 
success,  although  lie  will  not  sliow  himself  during  tliis  his 
first  course.  He  has  his  anatomy  —  some  of  it  at  le<ist  —  to 
study  as  he  goes  on,  and  he  has  not  yet  got  the  whole  hang 
of  the  lecture-room  —  he  does  not  give  himself  his  whole 
swing.  His  attainments  in  medical  science  are  extensive  and 
accurate,  and  his  intellectual  endowments  are  extraordinary. 
His  mind  is  quick  as  lightning  and  sharp  as  a  razor.  His 
conversational  powers  are  absolutely  wonderful.  His  most 
striking  mental  peculiarities  consist  in  a  power  of  compre- 
hensive and  philosopliical  generalization  on  all  subjects,  and 
in  a  fecundity  of  illustration  that  is  inexhaustible.  His  talk 
at  table  is  all  spontaneous,  unpremeditated,  and  he  pours  him- 
self forth  —  ^\■ords  and  thoughts  —  in  a  perfect  torrent.  His 
wit  and  humor  are  quite  lost  in  the  prodigal  exuberance  of 
his  thoughts  and  language."  In  this  same  letter  is  the  fol- 
lowing characteristic  memorandum,  illustrating  his  desire  to 
see  the  school-houses  beautilied  and  adorned.  "One  word 
about  the  High  School  House.  Pray,  don't  forget  in  the 
phuniing  of  the  rooms  my  plan  for  some  embellishments. 
Even  if  we  should  get  some  busts  I  do  not  know  that  niches 
would  be  any  better  than  suitable  stands  or  shelves.  I  hope 
we  shall  vaist',  by  a  fair,  from  live  hundred  to  one  thousand 
dollars  for  pictures,  etc.,  for  ornaments  to  the  two  principal 


At 
Dartmouth 


Bartlett  on 
Oliver 
Wendell 
Holmes. 


12 


At 
Lexington 


rooms."  It  is  is  quite  possible  tliat  Bartlett  lectured  botli  at 
Woodstock  and  at  Pittsfield,  as  the  terms  were  purpose^  ar- 
ranged so  as  not  to  clash,  and  in  tlie  catalogue  of  the  Ver- 
mont Medical  College,  1844,  there  is  an  advertisement  of 
the  Berkshire  school.  The  names  of  Bartlett  and  Holmes 
occur  only  in  the  1839-40  and  1840-41  announcements. 

In  1841  he  accepted  the  chair  of  the  theory  and  practice  of 
medicine  in  the  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  at  that 
time  the  strongest  and  best  equipped  school  in  the  West.  3 
On  his  way  to  Lexington  he  visited  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Washmgton  and  Baltimore,  and  in  a  letter  to  Green,  of  Sep- 
tember 7,  1841,  he  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  men 
he  met  in  these  cities.     One  item  is  of  interest   to  Balti- 
moresms  :    "  Day  before  yesterday  I  spent  with  Dr.  Nathan  R. 
Smith,   at  Baltimore    on  my   return   from    Washington,     f 
found  him  very  attentive  and  hospitable.     He  took  me  into 
his  gig  and  went  to  see  some  of  his  patients.     He  has  a 
pretty  large  surgical  practice,  and  is,  I  should  think,  a  man 
of  excehent  sound  sense,  industrious  and  devoted  to  his  pro- 
fession —  not  so  great  a  man  as  his  father,  but  a  very  capital 
good  fellow.     He  speaks  well  of  Lexington  and  the  school 
—  says  it  is  the  best  appointed  school  in  the  country." 

In  his  letters  there  are  interesting  descriptions  "^of  his  life 
in  Lexington,   some  of  which  are  worth  quoting :  "  In  the 
school  we  are  getting  on  very  weU.     The  class  is  of  a  good 
size,  rather  larger  tlian  last  year,  worth  a  little  over  ¥2,000 
intelligent,  attentive,  well  behaved.     I  have  given  fifty-eight 
lectures,  and  we  have  just  six  weeks  more.     My  own  success 
has  been  good  enough,  I  tliink.     So  far  as  I  have  means  of 
judging,  my  instruction  is   entirely  satisfactory,  to  say  the 
least.     My  colleagues  —  Dudley,  you  know,  is  the  great^  man 
here.     He  has  many  peculiarities.     He  is  very  much  pleased 
with  me.      He  teaches  singular  doctrines,   and  follows,   in 
many  things,  a  practice  veiy  peculiar  to  liimself.     The  other 
day  he  tied  the  common  carotid  before  the  class  in  an  anas- 
tomosing aneurism  in  the  orbit ;  i)atient  from  St.  Louis.  Dav 
before  yesterday  he  cut  for  the   stone :  patient   a  lad   froin 
^Mississippi.     He  lias  two  more  cases  of  stone  iiere  for  opera- 
tion.    He  is  exceedingly  cautious ;  sends  many  patients,  of 
all  sorts,  away  without  operation.       Uses  the  "ijandage  for 

i,viV,?\v'!?;"'-  fj";.^f ''''''•■''  I»<i«:ntnit'nt  of  Tiansvlvaiiia  rniversitv  ami  its  Fainiltv 
l.>  1). .  M  lUiam  .1. (  alv.Tt,  John.  Uoi-kins  Jlo.i.ital  ItuUoti..,  Aufi„st,  s'n.t'mluT/i,s[)l^^ 


s 

I 


I  red  botli  at 
-irposely  ar- 
of  the  Ver- 
:isement  of 
ncl  Holmes 
iiuents. 

practice  of 
ton,  at  that 
:he  West.  3 
liiladelphia, 
en,  of  Sep- 
of  the  men 
b   to  Balti- 

Nathan  R. 
ihigton.  I 
k  me  into 

He  has  a 
ink,  a  man 
to  liis  pro- 
eiy  capital 
the  school 
y." 

of  his  life 
;•:  "In  the 

of  a  good 
er  ¥2,000, 

fifty-eight 
vn  success 

means  of 
to  say  the 
great  man 
L^h  pleased 
ollo^vs,  in 
rhe  other 
n  an  anas- 
ouis.  Day 

hid  from 
for  opera- 
atients,  of 
lulage  for 


il  its  Kaoiiltv, 
itciubi'r,  IS'M. 


18 


everything  almost  in  surgery  —  tart.  ant.  and  starvation,  or 
low  diet,  in  most  diseases.  He  had  a  pretty  large  property, 
'  a  garden  '  as  he  calls  it,  of  150  acres  or  so,  a  mile  from  the 
city.  Richardson,  in  obstetrics,  boards  with  me,  a  plain  com- 
mon-sense man,  wlio  fought  a  duel  in  early  life  with 
Dudley;  has  made  a  pretty  large  fortune  here  m  practice, 
and  now  lives  in  the  country  eight  miles  or  so  from  here,  on 
a  farm  of  500  acres.  The  style  of  lecturing  here  is  quite 
different  from  what  it  is  in  the  East  —  more  emphatic,  more 
vehement.  It  is  quite  necessary  to  fall  somewhat  mto  the 
popular  style.  We  stand,  in  the  lecture  room,  on  an  open 
platform  ^vith  only  a  little  movable  desk  or  table,  on  which 
to  lay  our  notes.  On  the  whole  I  like  it  better  than  being 
seated  in  a  desk,  as  they  are  hi  Boston."  (December  21, 
1841.) 

In  March,  1843,  he  writes  to  Green  that  his  receipts  for 
the  session  have  been  more  than  12,000.  "  There  are  a  few 
good  families  who  send  for  me,  and  I  get  occasionally  a  con- 
sultation. We  never  make  a  charge  less  than  a  dollar ;  and 
considtation  visits  in  ordinary  cases  —  the  first  visit  —  are 
•fS.OO.  These  few  enable  me  situated  as  I  am,  to  make 
even  a  small  and  easy  business  somewliat  profitable.  I  have 
made  one  visit  twenty-five  miles  distant,  for  which  the  fee 
was  S#25 ;  and  I  saw  a  second  patient,  at  the  same  time,  inci- 
dentally, for  ''t'5.00  more.  You  see  from  all  this,  that  my 
place  gives  me  rather  more  money  than  I  could  earn  in  Low- 
ell, for  a  much  smaller  amount  of  responsibility  and  labor.  I 
have  hardly,  indeed,  been  called  out  of  bed  during  the  win- 
ter. In  a  business  point  of  view  I  feel  quite  content  with 
my  situation." 

From  an  interestuig  account  of  a  consultation  in  the 
country  we  can  gather  how  the  planters  of  those  days  did 
their  own  doctoring:  "Col.  Anderson  belongs  to  a  class  of 
men,  j)retty  large,  I  think,  in  this  KState, — rather  rougli,  with 
a  limited  school  education,  but  intelligent,  shrewd,  clear- 
headed, and  enterprising.  He  has  a  farm,  entirely  away 
from  any  travelled  road,  of  500  acres ;  but  his  principal  busi- 
ness is  that  cf  bagging  and  soa])  manufacturing,  his  farm 
serving  only  to  feed  his  family.  This  consists  of  about  one 
liundred,  eighty  or  more  of  "Inch  are  his  negroes.  He  has 
no  nhvsician,  whom  he  is  wili.i.;.  io  trust,  nearer  tlian  Lexina*- 
ton;  and  in  nearly  all  connaon  acute  diseases   treats  the  pa- 


n 


i!i 


• 


At 
Baltimore. 


14 

tient  himself.  His  duugliter,  Mrs.  Breck,  was  seized  with 
acute  pleunsy,  soon  after  miscarriage,  and  her  father  had 
bled  her  twice,  pretty  freely,  and  given  calomel  and  anti- 
mony, before  any  pliysician  had  seen  her.  He  had  followed 
tlie  same  course  a  year  ago  in  the  case  of  his  wife."  CFeb- 
ruary  18,  1844.)  ^ 

In  the  same  letter  lie  says :  "  Typhoid  fever  has  been  very 
Midely  ])revalent  in  nniny  parts  of  Kentucky  for  tlie  past 
year.  There  were,  it  is  said,  200  deaths  in  an  adjacent 
county  last  summer  and  fall.  It  is  evidently  the  common 
tever  o±  this  country,  u-ith  all  the  features  so  familiar  to  us 
at  the  East."' 

In  the  autunm  of  1844  he  accepted  the  chair  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  medicine  at  the  University  of  Maryland 
Aniong  the  letters  I  find  but  one  from  Baltimore,  and  that  is 
to  Oliver  VV  eiidell  Holmes  about  a  review  of  his  biok  «  The 
Philosophy  of  Medical  Science,"  which  had  appeared  that  year. 
^^  In  1844  he  accepted  the  cliair  of  materia  medica  and  ob- 

woodstock  stetrics  m  the  Vermont  Medical  College,  the  session  of  whicli 
began  in  .March  and  continued  for  thirteen  weeks.  Among 
his  colleagues  were  Alonzo  Clark,  Palmer  and  Edward  M. 
Moore,  and  later  John  C.  Dalton.  Bartlett's  name  occurs  in 
the  catalogues  of  the  school  until  1854,  the  year  before  his 

In  May,  1845,  lie  and  Mrs.  Bartlett  sailed  for  Europe. 
Ill  a  letter  to  Green,  July  12th,  there  is  an  interesting 
reierence  to  Louis  and  James  Jackson,  Jr. ;  "  I  Iiave  seen  a 
good  deal  of  Louis,  who  has  been  very  civil  and  attentive.  I 
dmed  with  him  soon  after  my  arrival,  and  met  there,  amongst 
others,  Leuset  and  Grisolle,  two  of  his  most  intimate  medical 
friends.  I  never  see  him  that  he  does  not  speak  of  voung 
Jackson  —  ce  pauvre  Jackson,  as  he  calls  him.  He  told  me 
with  a  great  deal  of  feehng,  that  Jackson,  the  last  night  tliat 
he  spent  in  Paris,  wrote  him  a  letter  from  his  liotel,  which 
was  moistened  with  his  tears,  and  tliat  he  tliouglit  Jackson 
was  almost  as  much  attached  to  him  as  to  liis  father  "  In 
another  letter  he  speaks,  too,  of  his  very  cordial  recei)tion  bv 
Louis.  '■  '' 

They  spent  the  winter  on  the  Continent,  traveling  about, 
chiefly  in  Ita  y,  and  in  the  spring  went  to  London.  In 
a  letter  dated  June  17,  1846,  tliere  is  an  interesthig  sketcli 
ot  a  magnetic  seance  at  the  house  of  Professor   Elhotson 


Second 
visit  to 
Europe. 


16 


seized  with 
V  father  had 
b1  and  anti- 
ad  foHowed 
ife."     (Feb- 

as  been  veiy 
or  tlie  i)ast 
an  adjacent 
he  common 
iiiliar  to  us 

f  the  theory 

Marjhuid. 

and  that  is 

btok,  "The 

xl  that  year. 

ca  and  ob- 

m  of  whicli 

s.     Among 

3d  ward  M. 

le  occurs  in 

before  his 

or  Europe. 

interesting 
lave  seen  a 
ttentive.  I 
■e,  amongst 
ate  medical 
:  of  young 
le  told  me, 

night  tliat 
otel,  which 
lit  Jackson 
itlier.'"  In 
iception  by 

ing  about, 

kIou.      In 

ng   sketch 

Elliotson, 


of  University  College,  who  subsequently  came  to  such 
a  grief  over  hypnotism.  "And  then  he  ran  full  tilt  off 
upon  his  hobby, 'animal  magnetism,'  calUng  it  one  of  the 
most  sacred  and  holy  of  all  subjects,  one  of  the  greatest 
truths,  and  so  on.  Di-.  Forbes,  tlie  editor,  lie  spoke  of  as  '  a 
wretcli,'  all  because  the  doctor  has  shown  up  some  of  Elliot- 
son's  magnetic  operations.  Dr.  E.  afterwards  invited  me  to 
see  some  magnetic  phenomena  at  his  house.  I  went  about  3 
o'clock  in  tho  afternoon,  and  found  his  spacious  and  elegant 
drawing-room  quite  fdled  witli  well-dressed  gentlemen  and 
ladies,  assembled  for  the  same  purpose.  The  doctor  had  two  sub- 
jects, one  a  young,  delicate  looking  girl,  and  the  other  a  dam- 
sel of  a  certain  age,  upon  whom  he  performed  the  standard 
and  stereotyped  experiments  —  putting  them  into  tlie  mag- 
netic sleep,  stiffening  their  liml)s,  leading  them  round  the 
room  with  a  common  magnet,  exciting  their  phrenological 
organs,  and  so  on.  I  can  only  say  that  I  was  not  specially 
delighted  with  Elliotson's  manner,  and  that  if  I  was  to 
choose  a  man  by  whom  1  should  swear,  without  using  my 
own  eyes,  certainly  it  would  not  be  him." 

In  the  same  letter  he  speaks  of  having  seen  a  great  deal  of 
Forbes,  editor  of  the  Medlco-OhlunileaCRevieiv ;  of  Marshall 
Hall,  of  Walshe,  "  a  young  man  and  a  good  fellow ;  "  of  Sir 
Henry  Holland,  and  of  tliat  interesting  American  physician, 
who  lived  so  long  in  England,  Dr.  Boott,  and  of  Dr.  South- 
wood  Smith  at  the  Fever  Hospital. 

On  liis  return  from  Europe  we  find  him  during  the  session 
of  1846-47  in  his  old  cliair  at  Lexington,  whence  he  writes 
on  March  18,  1847,  to  his  friend  Green,  from  wliich  a  para- 
grapli  rehitiug  to  the  second  edition  of  liis  book  on  "  Fevers  " 
may  be  quoted:  "  I  liave  been  drudging  away  all  winter  at 
my  second  edition.  I  do  not  feel  any  great'  interest  in  it, 
tliougli  I  hope  and  intend  to  make  a  good  book  of  it.  The 
first  edition,  for  a  monograph,  has  sold  very  well,  mostly  at 
the  South  and  West ;  so  well  at  least  that  Lea  &  Blanehard 
propose  pul)lisliing  the  second  edition  and  paying  also  some- 
thing for  the  riglit  to  do  so." 

The  sessions  of  1847-48-49  were  spent  at  the  Transyl- 
vania University.  In  tlie  spring  of  1848  there  is  a  letter 
from  Pliny  Earle,  dated  April  16tli,  saying  that  he  had  re- 
ceived a  catalogue  of  the  Medical  Department  of  Transyl- 
vania University,  from  which  he  had  received  his  first  inti- 


At 

Lexington 

again. 


,.^^ 


16 


At 

Louisville. 


At  the 

t'niversity 

of 

New  York. 


mation  of  Burtlett's  resignation  of  the  professorsliip.  He 
asks  Bartlett's  advice  as  to  the  propriety  of  applying  for  the 
position. 

On  March  13,  1849,  he  received  the  appointment  as  pro- 
fessor of  the  tlieory  and  practice  of  medicine  in  tlie  Univer- 
sity of  Louisville.  At  this  time,  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  J.  Cobb, 
we  have  the  first  intimation  in  the  letters  of  ill  health,  as' 
there  is  the  sentence :  "Accept  my  best  wishes  for  your 
comi)lete  restoration  to  health."  The  University  of  Louis- 
ville had  drawn  heavily  upon  the  classes  of  the  other  West- 
ern schools,  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  Lexington,  mid  the  Fac- 
ulty when  Bartlett  joined  it  was  very  strong,  comprising  such 
well-known  men  as  the  elder  Gi'oss,  the  elder  Ymidell, 
Rogers,  Benjamin  Silliman,  Jr.,  and  Palmer. 

The  condition  of  medical  politics  at  that  time  in  the  town 
of  Louisville   was   not    satisfactory,  and  a  new  school  had 
been  started  in  opposition  to  the  University,  and   among  the 
Bartlett  letters  are  a  number  from  the  elder  Yandell  which 
show  a  state  of  very  high  tension.      Bartlett  spent  but  one 
session  in    Louisville.      He    and    Gross    accepted   chairs  in 
the  University  of  New  York.      The  appointment  of  the  for- 
mer to  the  chair  ol^the  institutes  and  practice  of  medicine  is 
dated  Sept.  19,  1850.      From  some  remarks  in  a  letter  from 
Yandell  it  is  evident  that  Bartlett  did  not  find   the  position 
in  New  York  very  congenial.      Gross  found  his  still  less  so, 
and  returned  to  Louisville  the  following  year.    J.  W.  Draper, 
the  strong  man  of  the  University  School,  had  secured   Bart- 
lett iiiid  hi  a  letter  dated  Aug.  12,  1850,  he  promised  him  a 
salary  of  at  least  83,500.      The  same  letter  shows  how  thor- 
oiighly  private  were  the  medical  schools  of    that  day:     "It 
perhaps  may  be  proper  to  I'epeat  what  is  the  condition  of  the 
real  estate.       Tlie  college  Iiuilding  is  owned   equally  by  the 
six  professors.      Its  estimated  value  when  Dr.   Dickson   left 
us  in  tlie  si)ring  was  !!'78,600,  and  there  is  a  mortgage  upon 
it  of  848,000,  beaiiiig  interest  of  six   per  cent.       Excluding 
this  mortgage  the  share  of  each  professor  is  therefore  85,000, 
and  a  mutual  covenant  exists   among  us  that  on  the  retire- 
ment or  decease  of   one  of  the  Faculty  his  investment  shall 
be  restored  to  him  or  his  heirs  —  the  new-comer  starting  in 
all  respects  in  the  i)osition  he  occupied." 

During  these  years  Bartlett  seems  to  have  lieen  very  busy 
at  work  at  the  microscope,  and  there  is  a  letter  from  Alonzo 


f 


jsorsliip.     He 
•lying  tor  the 

nient  as  pro- 
tlie  Univer- 
i  Dr.  J.  Cobb, 
ill  health,  as 
hes  for  your 
ty  of  Louis- 
1  other  West- 
,  aiul  tlie  Fac- 
iiprisiug  such 
-ler   Ymidell, 

in  tlie  town 
iv  scliool  had 
'.  among  the 
uidell  which 
ent  but  one 
id  chairs  in 
t  of  the  for- 

medicine  is 
L  letter  from 
the  position 
still  less  so, 

W.  Draper, 
cured  Bart- 
lised  him  a 
s  iiow  thor- 

day:  "It 
lition  of  the 
ally  by  the 
)icks()n  left 
•tgage  upon 

Excluding 
fore  !?o,000, 
I  the  retire- 
tment  sliall 

starting  in 

I  very  busy 
om  Alonzo 


17 

Clark,  dated  June  15,  1848,  descriptive  of  a  fine  new  Obcr- 
hauser  (the  Zeiss  of  that  day),  and  in  1851  there  is  an  inter- 
estuig  letter  from  Jeffries  Wynuui,  g-lving  a  list  of  the  most 
important  Avorks  on  invertebrate  zoology. 

Among  liis  colleagues  in  the  University  were  Draper,  Mar- 
tyn  Paine  and  frranville  Sharp  Pattison.  Things  do  not  seem 
to  have  worked  very  smoothly.     In  the  spi-ing  of  1851  over-  At  the 


tures  were  made  to  him  from  the  College  of  Physicimis  and  Sur-  S'ltl^a^Js 
geons  of  New  York,  in  which  Faculty  were  his  warm  friends,  surgeons. 
Alonzo  Clark  ai>d  Willard  Parker,  and  he  was  elected  to  tlie  ^'""^  ^'''^ 
chair  of  materia  medica  and  medical  jurisprudence  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  1S52.     Here  he   lectui'ed  during  the  next  two 
sessions  until  compelled  by  ill  healtli  to  retire. 

I  may  fittingly  conclude  tliis  section  of  my  address  Avith  a 
sentence  from  a  sketch  of  Bartlett's  fife  by  Ids  friend  Elisiia 
Huntington  :  "  Never  was  the  professor's  chair  more  gracefully 
filled  than  by  Dr.  Bartlett.  His  urbane  and  courteous  man- 
ners. Ins  native  and  simple  eloquence,  his  remarkable  power 
of  illustration,  the  singular  beauty  and  sweetness  of  his  style, 
all  combhied  to  render  him  one  of  the  most  popular  ai-d  atl 
tractive  of  lecturers.  The  driest  and  most  barren  subject, 
under  his  touch,  became  instinct  with  life  and  interest,  and 
the  path,  in  which  the  traveler  looked  to  meet  with  briers  and 
weeds  only,  he  was  surprised  and  delighted  to  find  strewn 
Avitli  flowers,  beautiful  and  fragrant.  There  was  a  mao-ic 
about  the  man  you  could  not  withstand ;  a  fascination  you 
could  not  resist." 

III. 

Bartlett  began   his  career   as  a   medical  writer  witli  the  aitthor. 
Month] ij  Journal  of  Mcdieal  Literature  and  American  Medical  The 
StudentH'  Gazette,  only  three  numbers  of  which  were  issued.  Jounla?' 
He  says  in  the  introductory  address,  dated   Oct.   15,   18:'.l, 
that  there  are  plenty  of  practical  journals  of  high  character 
and  extensive  circulation,  but  lie  wishes  to  see   one  devoted 
to  "  medical  liistory,  medical  literature,   accounts  of  medical 
institutions    and    hospitals,    medical    biographv,    including 
sketches  of  the  cliaracter,  lives  and  writings  of  the  chief  mas- 
ters of  our  art,  and  of  all  such  as  have  in  any  way  influenced 
Its  destinies  and  left  the  deep  traces  of  their'labors  on  its  his- 
tory.    ...     To  tlie  medical  student  and  the  young  prac- 


i\< 


„sr*»t'' 


18 


titioner,  to  all  those  who  aspire  to   any   higher  acquisitions 
than  the  knowledge  that  calomel  purges  and  salivates,  and 
that   tartarized   antimony   occasions  vomiting,  who  are  not 
wiUing  to  rest   supinely  satisfied  in  a  routhie  familiarity  with 
doses  and  symptoms  —  a  familiarity  which  practice  and  habit 
render  in  the  end  almost  mechanical  —  we  cannot  but  think 
these  matters  must  be  interesting."      And  he  adds:    "The 
devotion  of  an  occasional  hour  to  such  pursuits  must  have  a 
tendency  to  enlarge  and  liberalize  the  mind.     It  will  help  to 
keep  alive  and  stimulate  in  the  yomig  medical  scholar  the 
sometimes  flagging  energies  of  study.      By  calling  his  atten- 
tion and  directing  his  desires  to  high  standards  of  acquisition 
and  excellence,  it  will  urge  him  on  towards  their  attainment. 
Delightful  and  fascinating,  in  many  respects,  as  the  study  of 
his  profession  may  be  to  him,    there  are  many  hours  which 
must  be  occupied   with   mental  and   bodily  drudgery.     He 
must  make  what  to  others  would  be  loathsomeness  pleasure 
to  himself.     Amid  the  wear  and  tear,  the  toil  and  fatigue  of 
such  pursuits,  he  needs  at  times  some  intellectual  recreation 
and  stimulus,  and  where  can  he  find  one  pleasanter  or  more 
appropriate  than  in  surveying  the  career,  and  studying  the 
characters  of  those  who  have  trodden  before  him  the  same 
laborious  path,  and  who  have  followed  it  on  to  its  high  and 
bright  consummation  ?     If  our  profession  ever  vindicates  its 
legitimate  claim  to  the  appellation  of  liberal,  it  must  be  cul- 
tivated with   some  other   than  the  single  aim   of  obtaining 
patients  for  the  sole  purpose  of  getting  for  services  rendered 
an  equivalent  in  fees." 

In  the  first  number  there  is  a  statement  that  on  a  future 
occasion  the  Jbwrna?  will  give  a  "detailed  consideration  of 
the  character  of  the  old  physician  of  Cos  —  the  venerable 
fa^^^her  of  physic,  and  of  the  reform  which  he  effected  in  med- 
ical science,"  a  promise  which  was  not  fulfilled  to  the  profes- 
sion for  many  years,  as  Bartlett's  well-known  lecture  on  Hip- 
pocrates, the  last,  indeed,  of  his  professional  writings,  was 
not  issued  until  1852.  The  literature  of  science,  its  philoso- 
phy, its  history,  the  history  of  the  lives  and  labors  of  the 
founders  and  cultivatoi-s  —  these  he  believed  it  important  for 
the  student  to  cultivate. 

Among  the  articles  in  these  three  numbers  there  are  some 
of  special  merit.  One  signed  S.  N.,  On  the  Claims  of  Med- 
icine to  the  Charader  of  Certainty,  may  have  suggested  to 


19 


i-  acquisitions 
salivates,  and 
,  who  are  not 
imiliarity  with 
;tice  and  habit 
lot  but  think 

adds :  "  The 
i  must  have  a 
[t  will  help  to 
d  scholar  the 
ling  his  atten- 
I  of  acquisition 
sir  attainment. 
IS  the  study  of 
hours  which 
Irudgery.  He 
3ness  pleasure 
md  fatigue  of 
ual  recreation 
anter  or  more 

studying  the 
him  the  same 
I  its  high  and 

vindicates  its 
;  must  be  cul- 
1  of  obtaining 
vices  rendered 

it  on  a  future 
onsideration  of 
-the  venerable 
ffected  in  med- 
1  to  the  profes- 
lecture  on  Hip- 
writings,  was 
[ice,  its  philoso- 
1  labors  of  the 
it  important  for 

there  are  some 
yiaims  of  Med- 
e  suggested  to 


Rartlett  in  his  well-known  essay,  "  On  the  Degree  of  Cer- 
tainty in  Medicine."  Tlie  enterprise  was  not  a  success,  and 
as  liartlett  had  said  in  his  introductory  address,  "of  all 
weaklif  things  we  moat  heartily  pity  weakly  periodicals,"  he 
had  the  good  sense  after  three  numbers  haxl  been  issued  to 
give  up  a  publication  wliich  the  profession  did  not  sustain. 

In  July,  1832,  he  became  tussociated  with  A.  L.  Pierson 
and  J.  B.  Flint  in  a  much  more  pretentious  and  important 
journal,  the  Medical  Mai/azine,  a  monthly  publication  which  Tho„^^j 
continued  for  three  years.  It  was  a  very  well  conducted  Magazine, 
periodical,  with  excellent  original  articles  and  strongly  writ- 
ten editorials.  John  D.  Fisher's  original  paper  on  The 
Cephalic  Brain  Murviur  occw^  in  Volume  II.,  and  in  the  same 
one  is  an  excellent  paper  by  E.  Hale,  Jr.,  on  TJie  Typhoid 
Fever  of  this  Climate,  which  is  of  special  interest  as  contain- 
ing very  accurate  statements  of  the  differences  between  the 
common  New  England  autumnal  fever  and  the  t>i)hu8  as  de- 
scribed by  Armstrong  and  Smith.  There  are  also  reports  of 
three  autopsies  giving  an  account  of  ulceration  in  the  small 
intestine,  among  the  first  to  be  published  in  tliis  country. 
There  are  in  addition  numerous  well-written  critical  reviews. 
Among  the  latter  is  one  of  the  most  virulent  productions  of 
that  most  virulent  of  men,  Dr.  Charles  Caldwell.  It  is  entitled 
"  Medical  Language  of  Literature."  I  have  heard  it  said  in 
Philadelphia  that  Dr.  Samuel  Jackson  never  forgave  the  bit- 
terness of  the  attack  in  it  upon  his  "  Principles  of  Medi- 
cine." 

In  Volume  III.  there  was  the  interesting  announcement 
that  a  dollar  a  page  would  be  paid  for  all  original  communi- 
cations. 

In  1831  appeared  a  little  work  entitled,  "Sketches  of  the  {^^fl"* 
Character  and  Writings  of  Eminent  Living  Surgeons  and  fuysiciana 
Physicians  of  Paris,"  translated  from  the  French  of  J.  L.  H. 
Peisse.  Of  the  nine  lives,  those  of  Dupuytren  and  Brous- 
sais  are  still  of  interest  to  us,  and  there  is  no  work  in  Eng- 
lish from  which  one  can  get  a  better  insight  into  the  history 
of  medicine  in  Paris  in  the  early  part  of  this  century.  One 
little  sentence  in  the  translator  s  preface  is  worth  quoting : 
"After  making  all  reasonable  allowtmce  for  natural  tact  or 
talent,  and  for  tlie  facilities  and  advantages  of  instruction  to 
be  had  in  extensive  medical  establishments,  it  will  be  found 
that  8^w(i^,  intense,  untiring,  unremitted  8fitt?«/,  is  the  only 
foundation  of  professional  worth  and  distinction." 


20 


Plirrn. 

oldgy. 


L'ltitH 

l':i  lev's 
Natiinil 
Tlit'oldffy 


"  Biirtlett 
onKLvers. 


A  prcat  stiTiiiilus  lind  lu-en  giwu  to  tlio  study  of  iihrcuology 
hy  tlio  visit  of  Si»iir7,lit'im  to  this  i-oiiiitry.  lie  gave  iicomse 
of  six  lt'cturt'8  on  tlif  anatomy  of  tlic  brain  and  spinal  cord 
at  ono  of  the  apartnionts  of  tlic  Medical  College  in  Sej)tem- 
l)cr  of  tliat  year,  and  sul)S('(|ucnlly  a  popular  course  of  lec- 
tures on  phrenology.  In  1H:\'2  he  died  in  Boston  of  tyi)hus 
fever.  His  hrain,  it  is  stated,  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
Jioston  I'hrenoh)gical  Society,  before  which,  in  January, 
1^88,  Hartlettgave  an  interesting  address  on  scientific  phre- 
nology. 

In  ls:^0  Bartlett  edited  "  Paley's  Natural  Theology,"  that 
delightful  book,  dear  especially  to  those  of  us  who  were 
trained  in  religious  colleges.  To  some  of  us  at  least  the 
freshness  of  the  natural  theology-,  which  in  Paley's  hands  was 
really  a  delightful  connnentary  on  anatomy  and  physiology, 
was  a  happy  change  from  artilicial  theology,  or  even  from  the 
"Horae  Paulinm  "  of  the  same  author. 

Bartlett's  claim  to  remembrance,  so  far  us  his  medical  writ- 
ings are  concerned,  rests  maiidy  on  his  work  on    "  P'evers  " 
issued  in  1842,  and  subsequent  editions  in  the  years  1847, 
18;")2  and  1857.     It  remains  one  of  the  most  notable  of  con- 
tributions of  American  physicians  to  the  subject.      Between 
the  time  of   Bartlett's  visit   to  Paris  and  1840,  a  group  of 
students  had  studied  under  Louis,  and  had  returned  to  this 
country  thoroughly  familiar  with  tyi)hoid  fever,  the  prevalent 
form  in  the  Fnaich  capital  at  that  time.       In  another  place^ 
I  have  told  in  detail  how    hirgely  through   their  labors  the 
profession  learned  to  recognize   the  essential  differences  be- 
tween the  two  i)reval(!nt  forms  of  fever,  typhoid  and  typhus. 
The  writings  on  fever  chiefly  accessible  to  the  American  reader 
of  that  day  were  the  English  works  of   Fordyce,  Armstrong, 
Southwood  Smith,  and  Tweedie,  in  which,  as  Bartlett  says, 
"  they  describe  a  fever   or   form    of   fever  (that  is  typhus) 
rarely  met  with  in  this  country,"  andthewriti   i^^did  not  act- 
ually represent  the  state  of  our  kiu)wledge  upon  the  giibject. 
Indeed,  for  a  number  of   years  later  a  chaci:     nialMon  of 
mind  prevailed  among  the  writers    in   Great  Britain,   and  it 
was  not  until  1840-50  that  William  Jenner,  by  a  fresh  series 
of  accurate  observations,  brought  the  British  medical  opinion 
into  line.     As  the  British  and  Foreign  Me(lico-Chiriir(jioal  lie- 

ut  ,{"''^ ";';•'■«  p/  -''"■' ('^  «"  American  Medicine,  Johns  Hoiikins  Hospital  Bulletin,  Au- 


of  jilirciiology 
R'avo  iicDuise 
(1  Hpiniil  cord 
je  in  Scptein- 
course  of  lee- 
ton  of  typhus 
•session  of  the 
in  J  an u my, 
icientitic  jihre- 

leology,"  that 
us  who  were 
I  ut  least  the 
^y's  haiiilH  was 
tl  pliysiology, 
even  from  the 

i  medical  writ- 
on  "  Fevers  " 
e  years  1847, 
Dtable  of  con- 
it.  Between 
0,  a  group  of 
urned  to  this 

the  prevalent 
lother  place* 
iir  labors  the 
ifferences  be- 
l  and  typhus, 
iierican  render 
,  Armstrong, 
iartlett  says, 
t  is  typhus) 
;>!di(]  notact- 
i  the  ?  ibject. 

"t'lidiaon  of 
ntain,  and  it 
a  IVesh  series 
idical  opinion 
liriirjical  Re- 

)ltal  Bulletin,  Au- 


21 


%mn\  in  a  most  complimentary  notice  of  Bnrtletl'H  work,  says, 
"A  iiistory  of  liritish  fevers  such  as  Louis  has  furnished  to 
France,  or  such  us  given  in  the  volume  under  discussion,  ilid 
not  exist."  Still,  even  at  that  diite,  1^44,  the  /^c/m-  ex- 
pressed the  ultia-coiiservativc  opinion  held  in  l-^ngland,  that 
the  coimnon  continued  fever,  or  the  h)w  nervous  fever  (»f 
lluxhuni,  was  only  a  mild  form  of  typhus  fever.  The  work 
is  dedic.iteil  to  his  friends,  James  .Jackson,  of  Boston,  and 
W.  W.  (I"'iliard,  of  I'hiladtdi)hia  ;  as  he  states,  "a  history  of 
two  tliseases,  many  points  of  \\lii(.h  tliey,  especially  among 
his  osvu  countrymen,  have  diligently  and  successfully  stud- 
ied and  illustrated." 

As  to  the  work  itscH',  the  interest  to-day  rests  ehietly  with 
the  remarkably  accurate  picture  wliicli  is  given  of  tyi)hoid 
fever  —  u  picture  the  main  outlint?s  of  which  are  as  well 
and  iirmly  drawn  as  in  any  work  which  has  appeared  since. 
It  is  written  with  gi'cat  clearness,  in  logical  order,  and  he 
shows  on  every  l»age  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  ihe  liter- 
ature of  the  day,  and,  as  the  author  of  the  review  already 
mentioned  remarks,  u  knowledge  also  of  that  best  of  books, 
the  book  of  nature. 

The  practical  character  of  Bartlett's  mind  is  indicated  by 
the  briefness  with  wliich  \w  discusses  the  favorite  topic  of 
the  day,  namtdy,  the  theory  (»f  fever.  He  acknowledged  at 
the  outset  that  the  materials  tor  any  satisfactory  theory  of 
typhoid  fever  did  not  exist.  He  went  so  far  as  to  claim  that 
the  fundamental  primary  alteration  was  in  the  blood,  and  that 
the  local  lesion  was  really  secoudary,  and  he  refers  to  the 
prevalent  theory  of  fever  as  "wholly  a  creation  of  fancy;  the 
offspring  of  a  false  generalization  and  of  a  spurious  philoso- 
phy. What  then  can  its  theory  be  but  the  shadow  of  a 
sliade?"  This  work  immediately  ]»lacc(l  Bartlett  in  the  front 
rank  of  American  pliysicians  of  the  day.  It  had  a  i)owt'rful 
influence  on  the  profession  of  the  country.  Among  his  let- 
ters there  is  an  interesting  and  characteristic  one  from  James 
Jackson,  already  referred  to  in  the  dedication.  Acknowl- 
edging tlie  reeei[)t  of  a  copy,  he  says:  "1  am  now  vvriting 
to  express  to  you  the  great  satisfaction  the  l)ook  has  given 
me.  I  think  that  it  entirely  answers  the  end  that  yon  [U'o- 
posed.  It.  in  fai't,  transkites  to  the  common  reader,  in  a  most 
clear  style  and  lucid  method,  the  acquisitions  which  science 
has  made  on  its  subjects  Avithin  the  last  few  years.     Nowhere 


22 


ThP  I'hil- 
osiiiihy  >f 
Medicine. 


else  can  the  same  conipreliensive  view  of  those  subjects  be 
foi.nd.  What  may  be  the  conclusions  ol  medical  men  in  re- 
gard to  essential  fevers  twenty  years  hence  I  would  not  pre- 
tend to  say.  It  iscertiiin  their  views  have  changed  very  much 
within  a  slmrter  period,  and  if  new  discoveries  are  made  in 
ten  years  to  eume  1  (h)i\bt  not  you  will  be  ready  to  change 
yours.  We  must  take  to-day  the  truth  so  far  as  we  know  it, 
and  add  to  it  day  by  day  as  we  learn  more."' 

It  IS  evident  from  iiis  letters  that  the  success  of  the  work 
on  fevers  was  a  great  gratiticatlon  to  Dr.  Bartlett.  The  sec- 
ond edition  was  issued  in  1847,  and  while  the  history  of 
tvphoid  and  tyjjhus  fever  remained  nuich  in  the  same  state, 
with  certain  additions  and  developments,  the  subject  of 
pericidical  and  yellow  fevers  were  greatly  extended.  The 
third  edition  was  issued  in  1852.  The  fourth  edition  was 
edited  by  Bartlett's  friend,  Ahmzo  Clark,  of  New  York.  The 
dedication  of  the  second,  third  and  fourth  editions  was  to 
Dr.  John  Ovne  Green,  of  Lowell,  "  with  whom  the  early  and 
active  part  of  the  writer's  life  \v'as  passed ;  in  a  personal 
friendship  which  no  cloud,  for  a  single  moment,  ever  shad- 
owed or  chilled :  and  in  a  professional  intercourse  whose  de- 
licrhtful  harmonv  no  selfish  interest    nor   personal    jealousy 

ever  disturV)ed."' 

From  every  standpoint  "Bartlett  on  Fevers"  may  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  successful  medical  works  issued 
from  the  medical  press  and  it  richly  deserves  the  comment 
of  the  distinguished  editor  of  the  fourth  edition:  "The 
question  niiiy  be  fairly  raised  whetlicr  any  book  hi  our  pro- 
fession illustrates  more  eleai'ly  tlie  beauties  of  sound  reason- 
ing and  the  advantages  of  vigorous  generalization  iVom  care- 
fully selected  facts.  Certainly  no  author  ever  brought  to  his 
lalxir  a  more  liigh-miiided  iiurjiose  of  representing  the  truth 
in  its  simplicity  and  in  its  iuhiess,  wliile  few  luive  been 
possessed  of  liigher  gifts  to  discern,  and  gracefully  to  ex- 
hibit it." 

''An  Essay  on  the  Thilosophy  of  Medicine,"  1H44,  a_  classic 
ui  Americiui  medical  liteiature,  is  tlie  most  eharacteristic  of 
IJartlett's  works,  and  tlie  one  to  which  in  the  future  students 
will  turn  most  often,  since  it  re^jreseuts  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful attem])ts  to  a[)ply  tiie  [)rinciplcs  of  deductive  rea- 
soning to  nu'dieine.  aiul  it  moreover  illustrates  the  mental  atr 
titude  of  an  acute  and  thouglitful  oliservcr  in  the   middle  of 


23 


subjects  be 
1  men  in  re- 
ulcl  not  pre- 
■d  very  much 
are  made  in 
ly  to  change 

we  know  it, 

of  the  work 
t.  The  sec- 
le  history  of 

I  same  state, 

!  subject  of 
ended.  The 
edition  was 
w  York.  The 
tions  was  to 
;he  early  and 
in  a  personal 
t,  ever  shad- 
se  whose  de- 

II  al    jealousy 

'  may  be  re- 
^vorks  issued 
the  comment 
ition  :  "  The 
:  in  our  pro- 
iound  reason- 
)ii  from  carc- 
)roug'lit  t<»  his 
ng  the  trutli 
;w  have  been 
:efully   to  ex- 

IH44,  a  classic 
iracteristic  of 
iture  students 
the  niDst  sue- 
I'duclivc  rea- 
the  mental  at- 
lie    middle  of 


th»  centu-y.      The  work  consists  of  two  parts:  in  tl,e  first 
science  i^'deflned  and  its  onions  htid  do,vn    Ascertamea  fa«ts, 
ith  t^Jir  relations  to  otters  obtained  by  o''-"»"°»  .^;X 
rsU*.Hesinaninter.t^^ 

•ni  nncpTver  and  as   a   LueuiiSL.       -u-  ^^^^    v  '         i        £ 

anv  time  or  Jn  any  degree  his  strong  neck  to  the  yoke  of 
iZcSesis  it  was  always  with  a  perfect  consciousness  ot  his 
aM  y  fw  11  to  shake  it  oft',  as  the  lion  shakes  the  dew.lrop 
fi^m  humane"  He  quotes  from  Sir  Humphrey  Davey 
!:Wheu  I  com^^^^  the  variety  of  theories  that  may  be  formed 
on  t  e  slen.ler  foundation  of  one  or  two  facts,  I  am  convn  ced 
tLt  it?s  ilie  business  of  the  true  philosopher  to  avo.d  them 

'^'Sfive'm'imary  propositions  with  which  the  second  part 
opens  contain  the  pith  of  the  argument: 

^  Proposition  First.  -  All  medical  science  consis  s  m  a.cei- 
tainirfcL,  or  phenomena,  or  events;  with  their  relations 
to 2r  fact;,  o/phenomena,  or  events;  the  whole  classdied 

"^p'ZSt  .^..o,uZ.-Each  separate  class  of  l^cts,  phe- 
v.omena  a  d  events,  with  tlieir  relationships,  constitutmg,  as 
ai  as  il>ey  <'0,  medical  science,  can  be  ascertamed  in  only  one 
wav  u  d  that  is  by  observation,  or  experience.  They  can- 
n^belducd,  or  inferred,  from  any  other  class  o^  t>u>ls, 
phenomena,  events,  or  relationships  by  any  process  of  mduc- 
tion   or  reasoning,  independent  ot  observation. 

FrZosition  Third.  ^A^^  .bsolnle  law,  or  principle,  ot  med- 
icd  en  c  consists  in  an  absolute  and  rigorous  generahza- 
^  u  ome  of  the  facts,  ph.n.nnena,  events,  <vr  relau,ns.ups 
bv  he  sun.  of  which  the  science  is  constituted.  Ihe  actual 
aLiilau.ablc  laws,  or  principles,  of  medical  science  are,  tor 
the  most  ])art,  not  al)Solute  but  approximative. 

V  Cif/""  fo„rth- "  ^^'^^-^  ^nviviu...  as  tliey  are  called, 
,,;     Lost  instances,  hypothetical  explanations,  -  mf-F^" 
t  tUon.  merel^■,  of  the  ascertained  phenomena,  and  their  rela- 
;    ships,   of  niedical  science.      These    explanations  eonsis 
eert iii    other  assume.l  and   unasc'ertamed   phenomena  and 
el-   ioii^mw      They  do  not  ,.onstilnte    a   legitimate  element 
;^  merlli'sJience.  ^   All  medical  science   is  absolutely   inde- 
pendent  of  these  explanations. 


24 

Proposition  Fifth.  —  Diseases,  like  all  other  objects  of  nat- 
ural history,  are  susceptible  of  classification  and  arrangement. 
This  classification  and  arrangement  will  be  iiatural  and  per- 
fect just  in  proportion  to  tlie  number,  the  importance,  and  the 
degree  of  the  similarities  and  the  dissimilarities  between  the 
diseases  themselves. 

l^artlett  is  the  strongest  American  interpreter  of  the  mod- 
ern French  school  of  medical  observation,  which  "  is  cliarac- 
terized  by  its  stric.    adherence  to  the  study  and  analvsis  of 
morbid  phenomena  and  their  relationships  ;  'by  the   accuracy 
the  positiveness,  and  the  minute  detail  which  it  has  carried 
into  this  study  an<l  analysis  :  and  by  its  rejection  as  an  essen- 
tial or  legitmiate  element  of  science  of  all  a  priori  reasoning 
or  speculation.     Tlie  spirit  which  animates  and  guides  and 
moves  It  IS  expressed  in  the  saying  of  Kosseau,  '  that  all  sci- 
ence  is  in  the  facts  or  phenomena  of  nature  and  their  relation- 
ships,  and  not  in  the  miml  of  man,  wliich  discovers   and  in- 
terprets them.'     It  is  the  true  protectant  school  of  medicine 
It  eitlier  rejects  as  apocryphal,  or  holds  as  of  no  bindino-  au- 
thority, all  the  tnulitions  of  the  fathers,  unless  they  are  sus- 
tained and  sanctioned  by  its  own  exi)erience." 

There  are  weak  points  in  his  arguments,  some  of  which  are 

T^  i.^"'"'^''    ^''*  "'  '"'  "''^'^  '^^'t^^'^^^  i"  t''^'  J^^'^fi^J^  (^nd  Foreiqn 
MedK-o-auruniical  Beview  (.July,  1845),  but  it  is  the  M-ork  of 
a  strong  and  thoughtful  mind,  and  for  a  time,  at  least,  it  ha.l  a 
powertul  mfluence  in  the  profession.    A  contemporary  writer, 
Samuel  Henry  Diuksoi^'-^  speaks  of  it  in  the  following  terms: 
"It  was  particularly  well-timed,  and  addressed  effectivelv  to 
the  reqmremenl>!  of  the  i)r..fession,  at  tlie  period  of  its  publi- 
cation. _   It  breathes  a  spirit  of   th.mghtful    and   considerate 
s^'eptieism,  which  was  then   needed  to   temper  the  headlong 
Habit  ot  conhdent  polyi.harmacy  prevalent  over  our  country. 
• ;     \  A.     ;!'''"  /i^^'^''^'«'^*-^'^'    liowever,    I)v   Hartlett,  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  on  the  other  by  Forbes,  he   (the  or- 
thodox  discij)le-)  stoj.pcHl  to  listen  and  consider.     Tliese  lifted 
men  spoke  with   authority;   they   pl.-aded    impressivehs  elo- 
quently, wisely.     If,  in  the  natural  ardor  of  controversy,  they 
went  somewhat  too  far,  let  that  slight  fault  be  forgiven  for 
tlie  great  good  they  accmplished.     Nav,  let  them  be  iionored 
tor  tiie  courage   and  frankness    with    whieh    thev    attacked 
prevalent  error,  an.l  risked  their  popularity   and   position   by 

"  Gross  :  American  .Aredioal  liinjrraj'liy.  I'Jfii.  p.  7r,(i, 


'^K 


^^K 
" 


•25 


jects  of  nat- 
rrangement. 
al  and  per- 
nce,  and  the 
)et\veen  the 

)i  the  mod- 
"  is  charac- 
analysis  of 
e  accuracy, 
has  carried 
as  an  esseu- 
',  reasoning 
guides  and 
:hat  all  sci- 
eir  relation- 
n\s   ajul  iii- 

f  medicine. 
)indino'  im- 

^'y  are  sus- 

f  which  are 
nd  Forehjn 
:lie  work  of 
ist,  it  had  a 
•ary  writer, 
ing  terms : 
'Ctively  to 
"  its  publi- 
onsiderate 
i  headlong 
r  country. 
:t,   on  this 
e   (the  or- 
lese  gifted 
^^'ely,  elo- 
"(M'sy,  tliey 
rgiven  for 
>e  honored 
attacked 
isition   hy 


4i 


ftssailing  modes  of  practice  rendered  familiar  by  custom,  and 
everywhere  adopted  and  trusted  to."  .    •  .:„  Ti,e 

In  1848    appeared   one  of    IJartlett's    most  characteristic  7^|^,,„, 
works,  a  little  volume  of  eiglity-four  pages,  entitled  "An  In-  ^^^ 
nuirv  h>to  the  Degree  of  Certainty  of  Medicine,  and  mto  the  MecUc.ne. 
N ature  and  Extent  of  its  Power  over  Disease."      1  he  icono- 
clastic studies  of    Louis  and  certain  of  the  Pans  physicians, 
and  the  advocacy  of  expectancy  hy  the  leadei^  ot  the  \  leima 
school,  had  between  1880  and  18oU  <listurbed    he  precession 
notahttle,  and  in  184^,  appeared  an  article  byDr.lorbe., 
in  which,  as  IJartlett  said,  were  drawn  "  in  strong  and  exag- 
gerated  colors    the  manifold    imperfections  ot    medical  sci- 
ence and   the    discouraging   uncertainties    o±    medical    ar  . 
These  circumstances  had  ccmibined  to  shake  and  dis  url)  the 
oeneral  ccmlidence  in  the  profession,  with  the  eftect  that "  the 
hold  which  medicine  has  so  long  had  up.^i  the  popular  mind  is 
loosened  ;  there  is  a  widespread  skepticism  as  to  its  power  c^ 
curing  diseases,  and  men  are    everywhere  to   be    iound  ^ 
deny  its  pretensions  as  a  science,  and  reject  the  '^euehts    in 
l)lessings  which  it  proffers  them  as  an  art.         lo   Bartiett  it 
api.earwl  high  time  to  speak  a  clear  and  earnest  word  tor  the 
See  whidi  we  study  ami  teach,  and  for  the  art  which  we 
inculcate  and  practise,  and  in  tins  essay  he   set  lumseli      e 
task  of  yuidicatuig  the  .•laims  ot  med.cme  to  the  regaul  and 
cntidence  of  mankind.       in  his  en.leavor  "  to  show  how    ai 
and  with  what  measure  of  certainty  and  of  cmistanc-y    ve  are 
able  to  control,  to  mitigate  and  to  remove  disease      Ba    lett 
oecuDied  at  the  outset  very  advanced   ground  tor  that  date. 
We  Inust  renumiber  that  the  general  l)ody  ot    the  profession 
had  the  most  impli.it  confidence  in  drugs,  and  polypharmacy 
wa     dmostas  nuu-h    u>    vogue    as   in  the    seventeenth  and 
cioh'ecnth  centuries.       H.e  reception  of  the  essay  m  certain 
quarters  in<licates  how  shocking  its  tone  appeared  to  some  ot 
tl,e  stahl  old  conservatives  of  the  day       1  c.une  .icross  a  re- 
yi^.vvof  it  in  the  MnUml  Examinn-,   November,  1848,  tiom 
which  I  give  the  following  extract :     "  Tins  is  a  curious  pro- 
duction, U.e  like  ot  wlu.h  we  have  seldom  --  rom  ^  p  n  o 
any  one  who  ha.l  ])ass.d  the  age  ot  a  sophomore     \\    at  makes 
U  ke  nun.  rennnkable  is  the   circumstance  f^ J^^^ 
is  a  gentleman  ot  e.lucation  and  experience  mu    1^'^  a^^'      «^ 
^yorks  which  have  given  him  a  wule  reputation        T  e  toice 
f   le  rebound  sul  iciently  indicates  the  intensity  with  which 


'Hi 


*jiT« 


26 

the  attack  was  felt.     EartlettVs   position,    however    remin,]^ 
one  soinewhat  of  the  sermon  of  the  hberal  ScoLrPres    -  1 
nan  on  "things  which  cannot  be   shaken/M^^^^  eh  he  mo' 
ceecled  at  the  outset  to  shake  off  three-fomlhs  of     he  e  er 
ished  behefs  of  Evangehcal  Christianity. 

After  a  preliminary  discussion  on  an-itomy  and  nhvsiolocrv 
and  on  the  remarkable   rapidity    with  which  th    e  Sfi 
^Nere  progressnig,  he  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  state  of  m  W 
ogy  and  therapeutics  as  illustrated  in  the  wpiI  htZ       v 

fei  to  the  result  of  us  analysis  of  the  evidence.      He  c    ssi 
fies  tiie  cases  into,  tirst,  those  which  terminate  natui^llv   ,Tl" 

At  times,  and  in  dcrrives  (liffprii..^  i.jfi 


^H?!' 


'ever,  reuiiiuls 

)tch   Preshyte- 

which  he  pro- 

of   the  cher- 

:kI  physiology, 
'lese   sciences 
tate  of  i)athol- 
wiiowii  disease 
n-e  than  to  re- 
He  chissi- 
laturally  and 
aiedical  treat- 
group  whicli 
stance   which 
said   of  the 
fatal;"   and, 
ither  in   one 
ids  ui)on  tlie 
I  judiciously 
of  the  cases, 
itiucnt  of  tlie 
U'e  and  lini- 
liseases,  and 
t'  preventive 

he  American 
enable  us  to 
'11  a  kindred 
of  Pcnnsyl- 
,  "He  lias 
the  resj)ect 
al]  sound- 
under  the 
>"«ture,  the 

iperanients, 
eel  that  the 
:  Avorth  the 
^'1'  and  tlie 
;  we  have 
liave    heen 


27 

wrongly  interpreted,  and  smitten  perhaps  in  the  house  of  our 
friends,  the  worries  of  heart  to  which  we  doctors  are  so   sub- 
ject makes  us  feel  bitterly  the  uncertainties  of  medicine  as  a 
profession,  and  at  times  make  us  despair  of  its  future.     In  a 
voice  that  one  may  trust  Bartlett  concludes  his  inquiry  with 
these  memorable  words,  which  I  (piote,  i}i  the  hope  that  they 
may  soothe  the  heartache  of  any  pessimistic  brother :    "  There  a  nowe 
is  no  process  which  can  reckon  up  the  amount  of  good  which  to'ou/ 
the  science  and   art  of   medicine  have    conferred  upon  the  profession, 
human  race  ;  there  is  no  moral  calculus   that  can  grasp  and 
com])rehend  the  sum   of   tlieir  beneficent   operations.     Ever 
since  the  first  dawn  of  civilization  and  learning,  through 

'  the  dark  backward,  and  abysm  of  time,' 

they  have  been  the  true  and  constant  friends  of  the  suffering 
sons  and  daughters  of  men.      Through  their  ministers  _  and 
disciples,  they  have  cheered  the  desponding ;  they  have  light- 
ened the  load  of  human  sorrow  ;  they  have  dispelled  or  dimm- 
ished   the    g^oom   of   the    sick-ehamber ;  they   have  plucked 
from  tlie  pillow  of  pain  its  thorns,  and  made  the  hard  couch 
soft  with  the  i)oppies  of  delicious  rest :  they  have  let  in  the 
lis'ht  of  joy  upon  dark  and  desolate  dwellings  ;  tiiey  have  re- 
knidled  the  hunp  of  hoi^e  in  the  bosom  of  despair;  they  have 
called  back  the  radiance  of  the  lustreless  eye  and  the  bloom 
of  the  fading  cheek  ;  tliev  have  sent  m^w  vig.n-  through  the 
failing  limbs ;  and,  tinallv,  when  exhausted  in  all  their  other 
resources,  and  ballled  in  their  skill  —  handmaids   of  philoso- 
phy and  rebgi(m -— they  have  blunted   the   arrows  of  death, 
anJl  rendered  less  rugged  iind  precipitous  the  inevitable  path- 
way to  the  tomb.       In  the  circle  of  human  duties,   I  do  not 
know  of  anv,  short  of  heroic  and  perilous  daring,  or  religious 
martynU.m  and  sclf-sacriticc,  higher  and  nobler,  than  those  of 
the  phvsician.     His   daily   round   of   labor  is  crowded  with 
beneficence,  and  his  night'lv  sleep  is  l)roken,  that  others  may 
have  better  rest,     llis  whole  life  is  a  blessed  ministry  of  con- 
sohilion  and  ho[ie." 

The  last  of  P)artletfs  strictly  medical  publications  was  a 
little  monograph  on  the  "History,  Diagnosis  and  Treatment 
of  Edematous  Larvn^'itis,"  publislu'd  in  Louisville  at  tjie 
time  he  held  tlie  chair  .>f  practice  at  the  University,  ui  ISoO. 
It  is  a  .•arefully    prepared    monograph,  based  largely  on  the 


Kdeinatous 
Laryngitis. 


28 


studies  of  Valleix,  and  to  which   u  iVe.h    interest    had  I.een 
giveii  him   ,y   he  observations  of  Dr.  Gurdou  Huck,        ^W 


the  eilematous  membranes. 


IV. 


<'»I{ATOR 

A^•D  Poet 


Natural  y  studious,  fond  of  poelvv,  liislorv,  l,io.r,,,,,l,v    ,,,,1 
imns  of  general  ,,n,„tu.e.  liartlett  had  a.ui.lo  onportuniti.^ 

.;;.v  |in,c  hot.  ,„i.o  alone,  ..tlit'l  ii'/Z:^^^,,;^:^:^ 
hours  u,  „K,IUation  nuteh  oftener  than'  when   e  ",*;.., 
the  nore  varied  and  active  affairs  of  i.usiness  at  h,  ,m       i 
Hunk  that     ahvavs  leave  Pittstield  with  H,    M,         d    uve 
pm  ot  my  heiiig  sonienhat  strengthened  ■■  linrion    Zun 
lus  immortal  treatise  with  the  advice  rT,\T  V!         ''" 

"Otidle,"  hut  the  true  studen  In  ^ne  ,  art  ,f 'h  s  1 'if '.  "I 
least,  shouM  know  the  "fruitful  hours  f  11]  orea^  '  Fo, 
.^a,,y  years  Bartlett  enjoyed  a  leisure  know  ,  toihn  to  fov 
professors  ot  medicine,  tlie  fruits  of  wliich  are  luu  iS^t  i„  l 

r ';Siia;^r:^'S:;'r  '",;?-^"- '  >- 

Bartlett  was  at  his  best  in  the  oceasi.m'd  ndr]-,>«  ■         i 

expression,  that  florid  warmth  wl„.„        ■"'  '  '"'"''"'""J   "1 
conunonly  marks  the  p      .  i;,:;'-™.;'  '/'^'■'■■^'  "  '"'i.' 

Anio,  these  addressci  the, i-e  tviiu ::';;;  ■';;:j;i™„r;r;:-i.- 


29 


t   had  I)een 

!k,  of  New 

scarifying 


Tapli}-  and 
md  in   the 
pnrtuuities 
rs  to  Green 
'd    deal  of 
ihng  away 
ngaged  in 
home.     I 
and  purer 
concludes 
'litary,  oe 
lis  life  at 
use."'    For 
I}'  to  few 
fest  in  his 
?ion  there 
icol)  IJige- 
high  and 
»proaehed 
"  Princi- 
ditioii  of 
'Ived,   ol)- 
his  niedi- 
ic  Trouj- 

and,  as 
ery  early 

of  July 

scaiccly 

lustrate, 

cility  of 

s,  \vh it'll 

poets." 
of  a  per- 


manent place  in  our  literature.      Perhaps  the  most  character- 
istic is  one  entitled,    "Tlie  Head  and  the  Heart,  or  the  Rela- 
tive importance  of  Intellectual  and  :\loral  Education,"  which 
is  a  stirring  plea  for  a  higher  tone  in  social  and  political  mor- 
ality.    In  the  same  clear,  ringing  accent  he  speaks  in  his  ad- 
dress on  Spurzheim  of  the  dangers  of  democracy.      In  a  lec- 
ture on  the  "  Sense   of   the    Beautiful,"   delivered   in   1843, 
liartlett  appears  as  an  apostle  of  culture,  pleadhig  in  glowing 
language  for  tiie  education  of  this  faculty.       One  short  frag- 
ment I  must  quote  :     "  Amongst  the  Hebrews,  and  in  the  age 
of  :\Ioses,  it  was  linked  to  religion;  it  dwelt  amidst  the  mys- 
teries of  Worship  and  Faith.     It   brought   costly   offeniigs 
to  the  costlier  altar;  it  hung  the  tabernacle  with  its  curtams 
of  fine  twined  linen,  and  blue,  and  purple,   and  scarlet ;  and 
with  clienibim  of  cunning  work ;  it  arrayed   the   high   priest 
of  Jehovah  in  his  gorgeous  and  consecrated  garments,  and  on 
the  mitre  of  pure  gold  upon  his  forehead,  it  graved,  like  the 
en o-ravimi- of  a  signet  — Holiness  to   the   Lord.      At  a  later 
da?,  an.rlunongst  a  widely  different  people,  it  became  the 
handmaid  of  a  refined  and  luxurious  sensuality.      It  lapped 
the  soul  of  (ireece  in  a  sensual  elysium.    Its  living  impersona- 
tions  were   Pericles  aiid  Aspasia.       It  called  the  mother  of 
love  from  the  froth  of  the  sea,  and  bound  her  z(.ne   with  its 
cestus  ;  it  filled  the  hills  of   Arcady    with  ileet   Oreads ;  it 
o-raced  with  half  naked  Naiads  the  fountains  and  the  rivers. 
It  crowned  the  Acropolis  with  the   Parthenon,  and  it  embod- 
ied its  highest  conceptions  of  physical  grace  and  beauty  m 
the    Venus    and    the    Apollo.      At    other  periods  during 
the  history  of  our  race,  it  has  manifested  itself  iii  other  torms 
than  these;  under  other  cij'cumstaiices,  aspects  and  influences, 

and  with  other  results."  , 

In  1848  he  delivered  the  Fourth  of  July  oration  be  tore  his 
old  friends  in  Lowell.  At  the  oiuMiing  he  refers  to  the_  tact 
that  twenty  years  before  he  ha.l  orcui)ied  the  same  position. 
"  It  was  tile  dewy  morning  of  my  manho(Ml ;  'time  had  not 
thinned  mv  flowhig  hair*;  life,  with  its  boundless  h()pes  anc 
its  o,,lden  Visions,  spread  far  and  fair  before  me  ;  ami  cheered 
bv  your  words  of  encouragement,  and  aided  by  your  helping 
h"ands,  — your  associate  and  (>o-worker,  and  m  your  service  ; 
a  strano-er,  but  welcomed  with  frank  confidence  and  trust,— 
I  bad  just  entered  upon  its  arduous  and  upward  path- 
way." 


The  Head 

and  the 
heart. 


Tho  Sense 
of  the 
Uoautiful. 


Fomth  of 

.Inly 

t)iiUion. 


H 


30 


William 

Charles 

Wells. 


Discourse 
on  Hlp-J 
pocrates. 


In  1849  appeared  a  "Brief  Sketch  of  the  Life,  Character 
and  Writings  of  William  Charles  Wells,"  the  Soutli  Carolinian 
Tory,  who  suhsequentiy  became  a  distinguished  man  of  sci- 
ence hi  London,  and  who  was  well  known  for  his  researches 
on  the  phenomena  of  dew. 

One  of  the  last  of  liartlett's  publications  was  "A  Discourse 
on  the  Times,  Character  and  Writings  of  Hippocrates,"  de- 
livered as  an  introductory  address  before  the  trustees,  faculty 
and  medical  class  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
at  the  opening  of  tlie  session  of  1852-53.  The  three  pictures" 
which  he  gives  of  Hippocrates,  as  a  young  practitioner  in  the 
Isle  of  Tliasos,  at  the  death-bed  of  Pericles,  and  as  a  teacher 
in  the  Isle  of  Cos,  are  masterpieces  worthy  of  Walter  Savage 
Liuidor.  In  no  words  of  exaggeration  the  late  George 
D.  Prentice  said,  "  There  are  but  few  word  pictures  in  the 
Enghsh  language  that  exceed  the  grandeur  and  loveliness  of 
that  one  called  into  being  by  Dr.  Bartlett  in  which  he  imag- 
ines Pericles  upon  his  death-bed  with  H'^^pocrates  in  attend- 
ance." 

It  is  remarkable  how  many  physicians  write  poetry,  or 
what  passes  as  such.  I  have  been  told  of  a  period  ui  the 
history  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  London  when 
every  elect  (censor),  as  they  were  called,  had  written  verses. 
Some  begin  young,  as  did  Bartlett ;  others  become  attuned 
in  the  deep  autumnal  tone  of  advancuig  years,  when,  as  Plato 
tells  us  in  the  Phaedo,  even  Socrates  felt  a  divine  impulsion 
to  make  verses  before  quitting  the  prison  house.  Those 
of  us  who  have  read  the  epic  of  the  late  distinguished 
Professor  George  B.Wood,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
entitled,  "  First  and  Last,"  published  when  he  was  sixty-four, 
will  devoutly  hope  that  professors  of  medicine,  when  afflicted 
with  this  form  of  madness,  Avill  follow  his  example  and  pub- 
lisli  their  poems  anonymously  and  in  another  country.  Jacob 
Bigelow,  too,  when  nearly  seventy,  "  darkened  sanctities  with 
song  "  with  his  American  "  Rejected  Addresses  "  (Eolopoe- 
sis). 

Dr.  Bartlett  had  poetical  aspirations  early  in  life.  In  a 
letter  to  his  sister  of  Dec.  3,  182G,  lie  speaks  of  having  seen 
in  New  York,  in  the  Garland,  "  two  fugitive  pieces  which 
some  months  before  I  had  made  use  of  to  fill  up  the  corner  of 
a  newspaper,  but  what  sense  they  might  have  contained  had 


"  The  reader  will  find  these  iiictures  In  an  appendix  to  this  lecture. 


31 


Ings  in 


been  turned  into  nonsense,  and  I  blushed  for  my  ^andeu  g 
orphans,  notwithstanding  they  had  l>een  so  we  dressed  and 
though  they  had  £oun<l  their  way  into  pretty  respectable 
company.  I  should  have  blushed  for  myself  iiad  they  been 
e3S  to  the  public  as  my  offspring."  In  another  let  er 
of  the  same  period  we  see  how  completely  he  had  passed  be- 

"^t^cS^lf  "S  Bartlett  issued  a  little  volume  ^^ 
entitled ''sfn'pk  Settings  in  Verse,  for  Six  Portraits  and  ve.e. 
Pictu^s  from^  Mr.  Dickens's  Gallery,"  the  mditmg  o 
which  had  been,  as  he  says,  a  pleasant  occupation  ^^^^^ 
helped  to  while  away  and  fill  up  many  an  lunu«  ^  J  f  ^^^^^^ 
otherwise  have  been  weary  or  vacant  in  l^-JPJ'f  ;^,  '  ^^.^ 
have  already  spoken  of  one,  "An  Allegory,  m  which  aie 
a  tobCi'p^"cal  details.  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  .luote 
from  an  appreciative  notice  which  his  friend  Oliver  Wendell 
HoL^  wrote  of  the  httle  volume.  "  When  to  the  triends  he 
had  loved,  there  came  a  farewell  gift,  not  a  ast  effort  of  the 
learning  and  wisdom  they  had  been  taught  to  expec   from 

iTm  but  a  Uttle  book  with  a  few  songs  in  it,  songs  with  his 
X'le  warm  heart  in  them,  they  knew  that  lus  houi-^  w  s 
come    and   their   tears   fell   fast   as   they   read   the    Iom  g 

houghS  that  he  had  clothed  in  words  of  "^t-l  b-^^^^  ^ 
melody      The  cluster  of  evening  primroses  had  opened  and 

%?^ZSt^"ture,--a  manhood  fused  with 

female  ^racT- to  judge  from  the  statements  o    contempora- 

e'tlSds,  tJ  kifow  Bartlett  was  tj^  1-  hnn.     Ah3nzo 

Clark  writes  to  him  always  as  "  Dear  Brothei,    and  saj  s  in 

one  Place  '  We  all  wish  that  you  were  among  us -not  to 

work  unkss  you  choose,  but  that  we  might  see  that  face  of 

rurs^md   e^l  the  influence  of  tlie  mind  that  shines  through 

l'^    TWonMres  John  Orne  Green  and  Alonzo  Clark,  are 

•      }!^l^X\vess^iV     -  Dear  Brother."     Among  the  lettei-s 
mvariably  addiessed    s     i^«-^  ^^^  ^^.j^^^^^ 

is  one  of  sympathy  to  Di-  G^^  "' ^  nnlocked  his 

I"'  f";^:t^';::^h  n"^hu--PFa^  to  the  afflicted 
S  ll  ^eZf  aJ^st  t:;o  saered  to  quote,  but  after  listenmg 
you  will  forgive  me : 

uMy  Dear  Brother:  What  shall  I  say  to  the  melun-  ,^^^3,\ 
choly  allusion,  in  the  close  of  your  letter,  to  the  death  ot  uu. 


82 

dear  Minerva  ?  Wliiit  poor  words  of  mine  can  he  of  any 
service  to  one  on  whom  the  hand  of  the  (ireat  Chastener  has 
heen  so  heavily  laid?  How  shall  1,  whose  life  has  heen  com- 
paratively so  cloudless  and  serene,  come,  with  the  message  of 
solace  and  encouragement,  into  the  presence  of  one  wluwe 
meridian  sun  has  heen  shrouded  in  such  utter  and  dreadful 
eclipse?  Hut  why  should  Inot?  Am  I  not  a  hrother  and 
a  man?  Has  not  hereavement  heen  a  guest  in  the  dwelling 
of  my  childhood ;  has  not  death  heen  a  familiar  visitor  amid 
the  scenes  of  my  early  friendships  and  hap[)incss  and  hoi)es? 
And  where,  too",  is  the  future  —  for  us  all  —  for  me,  as  well 
as  for  yourself?  We  hut  follow  each  other  through  the 
furnace  of  a  miction,  as  we  follow  each  other  to  the  grave. 
Who  of  us  has  so  hedged  in  his  earthly  treasures  that  the 
spoiler  cannot  easily  l)reak  through  the  frail  enclosure,  and 
rifle  him,  in  a  moment,  of  the  choicest  and  best?  The  lines 
of  the  Christian  poet,  familiar  to  me,  chiefly,  from  tin-  lips  of 
a  now  sainted  mother,  occur  to  my  memory  here  : 

'  The  siiider's  most  attenuated  tliread 
Is  cord,  is  table,  U>  man's  tender  tie 
On  earthly  bliss;  — it  breaks  at  every  breeze.' 

We  are  brothers,  then,  in  all  the  liabiUties  and  contingencies 
and  uncertainties  of  the  future.  Let  us  be  brothers  and  fel- 
low-helpers, also,  in  its  hopes  and  its  duties.  There  can  be 
no  entire  and  hopeless  wretchedness  for  the  soid  of  man,  ex- 
cept that  which  arises  from  its  self-intlicted  degradation. 
The  sweet  sister,  the  affectionate  daughter,  the  beautiful 
bride,  and  the  young  mother,  was  taken  away  in  the  clear, 
imclouded  morning  of  hw  life  —  taken  away,  but  where? 
And  by  whom  ?  The  flower  was  transplanted  from  an  earthly 
garden  —  a  fair  and  sunny  one,  it  is  true,  but  horn  an 
earthly  garden  —  to  be  set  forever  where  no  worm  can  feed 
on  its  root,  where  no  decay  can  ever  dry  up  its  bloom  —  in 
the  Paradise  of  God.  l(v  wh(mi?  Taken  away  —  by  her 
Father,  from  a  far-off  country,  where  she  was  only  a  sojourner 
or  a  pilgrim  —  to  her  beautiful  and  eternal  home.  Take 
these  thoughts  into  your  heart,  and  they  shall  lighten  up,  or 
drive  away,  the  darkness  of  the  past,  and,  what  is  bettei',  they 
shall  again  cheer  your  future  with  the  once  familiar  forms 
and  faces  of  JIappiness  and  Hope.  How  can  we  know  what, 
even  of  present  good,  our  indulgent  Father  may  have  hi  store 


88 


for  us?  He  may  have  allotted  to  yon  many  long  years,  to  be 
tilled  up  tirst  with  duty,  and,  if  tilled  with  duty,  to  Ito 
crowned,  also,  witli  tiie  eheerfnl  li,t,dit  ut'  social  and  doniestio 
j(»y.  You  may  say,  i)erhai)s,  tlial  this  is  all  very  well  for  me 
to  say,  but  that  I  know  nothing  about  it.  Hut  I  do  know 
something  of  the  mutability  of  all  earthly  things.  This  un- 
certainty has  long  been  to  me  a  daily  theme  of  meditation; 
so  I  am  n(»t  wiiolly  a  stranger.  Uut  1  have  found  an  anti- 
dote to  the  gloom  and  sadness  which  would  otiierwise  occa- 
sion in  remembering  that  all  things  are  in  the  hands  of  a 
Wise  Disposer,  and  the  surest  way  to  please  Ilim,  as  well  as 
to  seciire  our  own  present  as  well  as  luture  peace,  is  to  sul)- 
mit  to  His  dispensations  and  t(»  follow  on  in  the  course  of 
active  and  cheerful  duty  to  Ilim,  to  our  fellows  and  to  our- 
ves. 

When  at  Louisville  some  obscure  nervous  trouble,  the  na-  U'e'ith/"'' 
ture  of  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertaui,  attacked  Dr. 
Bartlett.  Against  it  in  New  York  he  fougiit  bravely  but  in 
vain,  and  after  the  session  of  ls5:5-54  retired  to  Smithtield, 
his  native  [dace.  The  prolonged  illness  terminated  in  paraly- 
sis, but,  fortunately,  did  not  impair  his  mental  facuUies  in 
the  slightest  degree,      ih-  died  on  ihe  T.Hh  of  Jnly,  iSoo. 

¥von\  the  many  euhtgies  which  appeared  after  Hartlett's 
death,  1  select  a  portion  of  one  written  by  his  dearest  friend, 
Ahaizo  Clark,  as  the  preface  to  the  fourth  edition  of  the  ^^^^^^^ 
"Fevers."'  "Sixteen  months  ago,  he  closed  his  brilliant  pro-  ciark's 
fessional  career,  after  years  of  growing  bodily  weakness  and  ^"'"*''^'' 
pain;  liis  mind  not  dimmed  by  liis  physical  inlirmities,  but 
briL;ht  and  compreliensive,  glowing  witli  the  memories  of  the 
past,  and  the  visions  of  llie  future,  lie  died  too  soon  for  the 
profession  he  adorned.  Tlie  clock  liad  hardly  marked  twelve 
at  noon,  on  the  dial  plate  of  life,  when  its  penduhnn  strokes 
grew  faint  and  gradually  fainter  to  tlie  ear;  and  now,  at 
h'ngth,  when  all  is  still,' the  hand  that  notes  the  hours  pohits 
sad'Tv  ui)war(l,  to  indicate  how  nnicli  of  daytime  still  remained 
to  reai»  tlie  harvest  (»f  affection  and  honor,  in  those  tields 
from  which  he  had  already  garnered  up  so  many  golden 
sheaves,  lie  died,  alas  1  too  soon.  The  wliole  profession  are 
his  mourners:  for  conspicuous  as  he  had  become  by  his  med- 
ical  writings  and    bis   extended    professional  lalxn's,  his    ae- 


l<no 


wledi. 


•ed   wor 


thin 


ess. 


his   innate  gentleness   and   niodesiy 


34 

(liBanm-d  envy.  He  left  no  enemies.  His  mind  and  purpose 
were  pure,  almost  beyond  example.  His  higli  nu-ntal  endow- 
ments were  controlled  and  dirc-eted  hy  a  considerate  judgnient 
and  an  earnest,  benevolent  iieart;  and  as  tbe  laws  ot  re  rac- 
tion  wrought  (mt  into  nnitbematical  formula',  enable  the  lapi- 
dary to  construct  the  facets  which  open  the  fountanm  ot  the 
many-colored  diam.md,  so,  feu-  him,  cultivation  and  elegiuit 
taste  had  brought  out  the  varied  and  wiiming  native  lights  ot 
Ills  rich,  intellectual,  moral  and  social  nature." 

In  translating  the  "  Lives  of  Eminent  French  Physicians," 
Rartlett  said  he  had  a  two-fold  object:      "First,  the  deline- 
ation of  distinguished  professional  character  and  attainment, 
and,  secondly,  by  the  influence  of  such  high  examples  to 
awaken  in  the  younger  members  of  the  medical  body  a  more 
devoted  and  worthy  emulation  of  the  great  masters  of  our 
art."     In  this  spirit  I  appear  before  you  to-tlay,  glad  to  tell 
over  the  story  of  your  countryman  —  the  story  of  "  a  life  in 
ci\dc  action  warm/'  one  that  all  "  the  muses  deck't  with  gilts 
of  gi-ace,"  a  distinguished  teacher,  an  author  of  widespread 
influence  and  distinction,  a  serene  philosopher,  but  above  all 
a  man  in  whom  you  may  recognize,  even  from  the  brief  and 
imperfect  sketch  which  I  have  given, 

"A  likeness  to   the  wise  below, 
A  kinsliip  with  the  great  of  old." 


APPENDIX. 

A   SKETCH    OF   HIPPOCRATES.' 


In  one  of  the  yearn  of  the  Sf^th  OlympaM,  in  the  islainl  of 
TluiHoH,  frontins^  tlie  Thrasian  city  of  Ahilera,  there  was  sadness 
in  the  house  of  Sileniis,  for  its  yoiinu;  master  hail  lieen  seized  with 
sudden  and  ahirniinu-  iUness  —  the  fiery  cmisitfi  of  the  climate. 
The  year  had  been  marked  l»y  some  meteorological  ami  epidemic 
peculiarities.  A  little  before  the  risinif  of  Arcturus  —  that  is, 
just  previous  to  the  autummil  equinox,  and  while  this  constella- 
tion was  still  upon  the  horizon,  there  had  been  heavy  and  fre- 
quent rains,  with  wimls  from  the  north.  Towards  the  eipiinox, 
and  ujt  to  the  settinjj;  of  the  I'leiades,  tlu3re  were  liiiht  rains  with 
southerly  winds.  Durinsj  the  winter,  the  winds  Avere  cold,  strong, 
and  dry  from  the  north,  with  snow.  Towards  the  vernal  e(iuinox, 
there  were  violent  storms.  The  spring  was  cold  and  rather  wet, 
with  win<ls  from  the  north.  Towards  the  summer  solstice,  there 
were  light  rains  and  the  temperature  was  cool  till  near  the  ap- 
proach of  the  dog-days.  After  the  dog-days  and  until  the  rising 
of  Arcturus,  the  sunuiier  was  marked  by  great  heat ;  not  at  inter- 
vals, but  constantly.  There  was  iw  water.  Summer-etesien- 
winds  were  prevalent.  From  the  rising  of  Arcturus  to  the  time 
of  the  ecpiinox,  there  were  rains  with  the  wind  from  the  south. 

iJuring  the  winter,  the  general  health  of  the  Thasians  was 
good,  e.vcepting  an  epidemic  prevalence  of  paralysis.  At  the 
opening  of  spring,  the  <:(nitii(tt  showed  itself,  and  continued  t  pre- 
vail up  to  the  autumnal  equinox.  During  the  early  pan  of  the 
season,  the  disease  was  mild;  but  after  the  autumn  rains,  it  be- 
came more  severe,  and  carried  off  a  great  many  of  its  subjects. 
.  .  .  Dysenteries  prevailed  also  during  the  summer;  ami  some 
patients  wi'th  fever  even,  who  ha<l  had  hemorrhages,  were  attacked 
with  dysentery :  this  happened  to  the  slave  of  Kraton,  and  to 
Myllus.  .  .  .  There  Avas  much  sickness  amongst  the  women. 
.  .  ,  i\Ianv  had  dithcult  labors,  and  were  sick  subsecjuently ; 
this  was  the  case  with  the  (huighter  of  Telebolus,  who  died  on 
the  tenth  day  after  her  contiuement.     .     .     .     When  the  caiisus 


>  Kvdin  a  Discomse  on  the  Tiiuo.-.  Character,  and   Writings  of   llii>i>ocratos,  by 
Elisha  Hartlett. 


36 

proved  fatal,  deatli  connnonly  took  ylace  on  the  sixth  day,  as  in 
the  cases  of  Epaininondas.  Silenus,  and  IMnliscus,  son  ot  Anta- 
Conas.  .  .  .  The  parotid  .ulands  siiiipnrated  in  the  case  ot 
Cratistonax,  who  lived  near  the  tenq.le  of  Hercules;  and  also  in 
that  of  the  servant  of  Scynnnus,  <he  fuller,  _ 

But  oniittin-'  anv  further  details  of  the  i)revailing-  diseases  ot 
the  vear,  let  us"^  return  to  the  l)edside  of  the  young  patient  in 
Ahdera.  It  is  the  third  day  of  his  disease ;  he  has  had  a  restless 
and  distressed  niyht,  with"  some  wanderin^i;  of  the  mind ;  the 
symptoms  are  all  worse  in  the  morning,  and  his  family  and  neigh- 
bors are  anxious  an<l  alarmed.  The  occuj.ations  and  order  ot 
that  old  Thasian  household  are  interrui)ted  and  broken  uj).  A 
fresh  offerinu  has  been  placetl  on  the  altar  of  the  household  Jove, 
standing  in  the  centre  of  the  inner  court.  The  sound  of  the  tlute 
and  the  cithera  has  ceased ;  there  is  no  animated  talk  of  the  last 
winners  at  the  Isthmian  or  the  Olympian  games ;  the  clatter  of 
the  loom  and  the  domestic  hum  of  *  the  spinning  wheel  are  no 
lono-er  heard;  the  naked  feet  of  the  slaves  and  the  women  fall 
carefully  and  silently  u])onthe  uncari)eted  tloors,and  an  unwonted 
stillness  reigns  throughout  the  numerous  apartments  of  the 
dwellinu;.  There  is  no'savory  steam  of  roasting  wild-boar  from  the 
kitchen^and  the  fragrant  thracian  wine  stands  untasted  on  the 
table,  with  a  few  plain  barley-cakes  and  a  little  salt  tish. 

Silenus  lies  in  his  sleeping  cliaml)er,  in  the  quiet  interior  ])art 
of  the  house,  adjoining  the  ai)artments  of  the  women,  farthest 
from  the  vestibule,  and  near  to  the  garden.  By  the  bed  of  the 
sick  man,  there  is  a  small  trij.od  stand,  with  a  circidar  top,  and 
u])on  it  there  is  a  statuette  of  Hercules,  a  bowl  of  warm  barley- 
water,  and  a  cup  of  oxymel. 

Leanint;;  her  liead  oii  the  foot  of  the  bed  ami  sobbing,  sits,  on  a 
low  stoo^a  voung  (4reek  woman.  l)eautiful  in  her  feat^ures,  and 
graceful  in  the  Howing  outlines  of  her  person,  as  the  Thessalian 
maidens  of  Homer.  "There  is  a  ]iictures((ue  comlnnation  of  bar- 
barian rudeness  and  (-irecian  elegance  in  h.er  a])pearance,  iiot  an 
unfitting  type  and  exjiression  of  the  age  and  state  of  society,  m 
the  mi(lst  of  which  she  lived.  Her  feet  and  ankles  are  bare ;  she 
wears  only  a  single  garment  —  the  long  Ionic  chiton  of  linen  — 
with  large  sleeves  reaching  only  a  little  l)elow  the  shoulders, 
leavinu;  uncovered,  in  their  snowy  whiteness,  arms  that  niight 
have  rivalled  those  of  the  jealous  "queen  of  Olympus.  A  girdle 
fastens  the  robe  loosely  round  a  waist,  like  that  of  the  Medician 
Venus,  innocent  of  the 'deformities  of  buckram  and  wlialebone. 
The  light  auburn  hair  is  simply  parted  and  carried  l»ack  from  tiie 
forehead,  gathered  in  a  knot  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  fastened 
with  a  gol-en  grasshopper,  and  held  by  a  coif  of  golden  net- 
work. 


37 


At  the  head  of  the  bed,  watohino-  steadfastly  and  earnestly  the 
ai)i)earaiu-e  of  the  ))atient,  is  seated  his  jihysician,  the  already 
celebrated  son  of  Ileraclides  and  Phenaretes,  llijipocrates  of  Cos. 
He  has  just  entered  the  apartment,  to  make  his  morning  visit. 
Ilis  sandals  have  been  taken  oft",  and  his  feet  washed  I)y  a  slave 
in  the  vestibule.  He  wears  over  his  linen  tunic  a  large  flowing 
mantle  of  light  fine  woolen,  suited  to  the  season,  not  unlike  the 
later  toga  of  the  Romans,  fastened  at  the  neck  with  a  cameo  of 
^Esculapius,  and  falling  in  graceful  folds  nearly  to  his  feet.  His 
hair  is  long,  and  both  this  and  his  beard  are  kei)t  and  arranged 
with  scruimlous  neatness  and  care,  lie  is  thirty  years  old,  in  the 
very  prime  and  l)eauty  of  early  manhood.  His  features,  through 
these  misty  shadows  of  many  centuries,  we  cannot  clearly  dis- 
tinguish, luit  we  see  that  his  face  is  dignified,  thoughtful  and 
serene  ;  and  his  whole  aspect,  manner  and  ex})ression  are  those  of 
high,  anticpie  breeding,  of  refine<l  culture,  and  of  rather  studied 
and  elaborate  elegance. 

His  examination  of  his  [tatient  was  long,  anxious  and  careful.   He 
saw  at  once  that  the  gravity  and  danger  of  the  disease  had  increased 
since  his  hust  visit."   He  inquired  very  minutely  into  the  manner 
in  which  the  night  had  l)een  passed ;  arid  was  told  by  the  watchers 
that  the  patient  had  had  no  sleej),  that  he  had  talked  constantly, 
had  sung  and  laughed,  and  had  been  agitated   and  restless.     He 
found  the  hypochondria  tumefied,  but    .vithout  much  hardness. 
The  stools  had  been  blackish  and  watery,  and  the  urine  turbid 
and  dark  colored.     He  noticed  the  temjjerature  and  feel  of  the 
skin,  and  he  studied  for  a  long  time  and  with  great  solicitude  the 
general  manner  and  appearance,  the  decubitus,  the  breathing,^ the 
motioi\s,  and  especially  the  physiognomy  of  the  patient.     The 
only  circumstance  in  the  examination  that  would  have  particularly 
attracted  the  attention  of  a  modern  witness  of  the  scena,  would 
have  been  his  omission  to  feel  the  i)ulse.     With  this  exception,  no 
examination  of  the  rational  symptoms  of  disease  could  have  been 
more  thorough  and  methodical. 

Having  satisfied  lumself  as  to  the  state  of  his  patient,  he  retired 
to  an  adjoinmii-  room,  followed  by  some  of  the  attendants,  to  give 
directions  in  regard  to  the  few  simple  remedies  that  he  intended 
to  use.  The  j.alient  had  already  been  bled,  and  had  had  a  pur- 
oative  of  black  hellebore.  Hippocrates  directed,  that  instead  of 
tiie  strained  decoction  of  barley,  which  had  been  the  patient's 
drink,  he  should  iu)sv  have  h(»ney  and  water  — the  ^ivorite 
hydromel  —  that  the  bed  should  be  made  softer—  the  windows  of 
tiie  room  still  farther  darkened,  ami  that  a  warm  fiax-seed 
poultice,  softened  with  olive  oil,  should  be  applied  to  the  abdomen. 
With  a  sad  but  decided  expression  of  his  fears  as  to  tht  issue 
oi  the   case,  and   a   few  kindly  and   pious  words  to  the  weeping 


38 

wife,  about  the  dignity,  the  solace,  and  the  duty,  in  all  our  trials, 
of  submission  to  the\vill  of  the  g-ods,  he  gathered  his  mantle 
gracefully  about  him,  had  his  sandals  refitted  by  tlie  slave  who 
waited  in  the  vestibule,  and  proceeded  on  his  daily  round  of 
visits  among  the  houses  of  the  city. 


And  now,  leaving  the  sterile  island  of  Thasos,  let  us  follow  the 
young  physician  to  another  sick  chamber  —  to  a  scene  of  domestic 
life,  still  further  illustrative  of  that  remote  and  wonderful  period, 
with  which  we  are  concerned. 

The  time  is  a  year  or  two  later  —  it  is  the  house  of  Pericles 
that  we  enter,  and  we  stand  by  the  death-bed  of  the  great  and 
venerable  Archon.  Every  thing  in  the  spacious  apartment  indi- 
cates the  pervading  presence  —  not  of  obtrusive  grandeur,  or  of 
showy  and  ostentatious  wealth, —  but  of  stately  elegance,  and  of 
high,\  arious,  many-sided  luxury,  culture,  and  refinement.  Pliil- 
osophy,  letters,  and  art  breathe"^  in  the  quiet  atmosphere  of  the 
room ;  and  the  taste  of  Aspasia  sheds  an  Asiatic  grace  over  its 
furnishing  and  its  decorations.  In  one  corner  stands  a  statue  of 
Minerva,  from  the  chisel  of  Phidias ;  and  the  walls  are  covered 
with  pictures,  fresh  from  the  pencils  of  Pan.-enus  and  PolygnotUB, 
illustrating  the  legendary  and  historic  glories  of  Greece.  There 
might  have  been  seen  Theseus,  bearing  off  from  the  field  of  vic- 
tory, on  the  banks  of  the  Thermddon,  the  masculine  and  mag- 
nificent queen  of  the  Amazons  —  half  willing,  perhaps,  to  be  the 
captive  of  such  a  victor;  Jason,  in  his  good  ship  Argo,  with  his 
fifty  selectest  heroes,  convoyed  by  the  queen  of  love,  the  awful 
Here,  and  Apollo,  winds  his  various  and  adventurous  voyage, 
crowded  with  poetic  imagery  and  romantic  incident,  and  brings 
back  the  golden  tieece  from  Colchis ;  —  Helen,  at  her  loom,  is 
weaving  into  her  "  golden  web  "  the  story  of  the  Trojan  wars ;  — 
the  chaste  l^enelope,  by  the  light  of  her  midnight  lamp,  undoes 
the  delusive  labors  of  the  day;" — Ulysses,  returned  from  his  long 
Avandei-ings,  surveys  once  more,  with  bo\ash  pride  and  delight,  the 
dear  old  bow,  which  no  arm  but  his  could  bend. 

The  central  figure  on  that  old  historic  canvas  that  I  have  en- 
deavored to  unroll  before  you,  is  that  t)f  the  d^nng  statesman. 
Raised  and  resting,  in  solemn  and  a\igust  serenity,  upon  its  last 
pillow,  lies  that  head  of  ()lym))iHn  grandeur,  which  —  I  may  say 
it  without  ]iresumi>tion  —  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  twenty-three 
centuries,  uoav  finds,  for  the  first  time,  its  fitting  representative 
and  likeness  —  as  tl\e  character  and  career  of  the  great  Athenian 
find  their  counterparts  also  —  in  that  illustrious  orator  and  states- 
man, who  now  walks  in  solitary  majestv  amongst  us  —  the  pride, 
the  strength,  the  glory,  of  the  l{ei)uljlic-— the   Pericles  of  our 


39 


Athens  —  whose  Acropolis  is  the  Constitution  of  his  conntry  — 
whose  Propyhva  are  the  freedom  and  the  federation  of  the  States. 

A(hle(l  to  the  calamities  of  that  lontj;  and  disastrous  internecine 
Btru<f(>;le  hetween  tlie  two  rival  cities  of  Greece,  which  had  just 
begun,  Athens  was  now  afflicted  with  that  terrible  visitation  of 
the  ]>lagne,  the  history  of  which  has  been  left  to  us  by  Thu- 
cydides;  and  Pericles  was  sinking  under  a  protracted  and  Avear- 
ing  fever  —  the  result  of  an  attack  of  the  disease. 

His  long  and  glorious  life  is  about  to  close.  lie  Lad  been,  for 
more  than  an  entire  generation  —  if  never  the  tirst  Archon,  and 
not  always  the  most  popular  —  by  common  consent  the  most 
eminent  citizen,  statesman,  and  orator  of  the  republic  —  the  great 
defender  of  her  constitution  —  tlie  champion  of  her  freedom  and 
her  rights  —  the  upholder  and  the  magnifier  of  her  renown. 
Political  rivals,  di8a])pointed  partisans,  and  a  few  malignant 
personal  enemies,  and  professional  libellers  and  satirists,  had  been 
hostile  to  his  career,  and  had  endeavored  to  blacken  his  fair 
fame ;  but  his  strong  and  unshaken  democratic  faith  —  his  far- 
seeing  sagacity  —  his  firmness  and  moderation  —  his  enlarged, 
liberal,  humanizing,  conservative,  and  pacific  policy  —  his  moral 
courage  and  independence,  and  his  high  public  ]>robity,  had 
triumphed  over  them  all;  and  although  by  braving  the  jirejudices 
of  his  friends  and  supporters,  in  his  devotion  to  the  general  weal, 
he  had  gathered  over  his  declining  sun  some  clouds  of  jniblic  dis- 
favor—  the  sense  of  justice,  and  the  feeling  of  gratitude  in  the 
minds  of  his  countrATuen  were  (]uick  to  return  —  the  clouds  were 
already  scattered,  or  they  served  only  to  deei)en  and  reflect  the 
setting  splendor  which,  for  a  moment,  they  had  intercepted  and 
obscured. 

Many  of  his  near  personal  friends  and  relatives  had  already 
fallen  victims  to  the  pestilence.  Both  his  sons  had  jierished,  and 
the  young  I'ericles  —  the  child  of  Aspasia  —  had  been  sent  away, 
with  his  niother,  for  safety,  into  Thessal) .  I'hidias,  and  his  old 
teacher,  Anaxagoras,  his 

"  Gil  ,le,  pliilosoplier,  ami  friend," 

had  died  a  little  while  before  the  breaking  out  of  tlie  epidemic. 
1'hose  who  were  left  had  now  gafhered  around  the  bed  of  the 
dying  Archon,  to  receive  the  rich  legacy  of  his  parting  words,  and 
to  ]iay  to  him  the  last  solemn  and  kindly  oflices  of  life. 

Not  often  in  the  world's  history  has  there  met  together  a  more 
august  and  illustrious  com]iany.  These  are  a  few  of  those  whom 
we  are  aide  tit  recognize  amongst  them.  IJesting  his  head  on  the 
shoulder  of  Socrates,  and  sobbing  aloud  in  unrestrained  and  ]ias- 
sionate  sorrow,  leans  the  wild  and  reckless  Alcibiades  —  just  in 


40 

the  tirst  bloom  of  that  res]>len(lent  i)ev8onal  beauty  Avhicli  niade 
him  seem  to  the  eves,  even  of  the  Greeks,  more  hke  the  radiant 
ainiarition  of  a  xomv^  Apollo,  than  any  form  ot  mere  earthly 
mould  — snbaueci,  for^he  first  time  in  his  life,  and  probably  for 
tiie  last— by  the  spectacle  before  liim,  of  his  dying  relative  and 
<.-uardian— to  reverence,  tenderness,  and  truth.  Sophocles,  his 
old  comi)anion  in  arms,  is  there;  an.l  near  him,  in  his  coarse 
mantle,  and  with  unsandaled  feet,  may  have  stood  a  grandson  ot 
Aristides,  still  poor  Avith  the  honorable  poverty  of  Ins  great  an- 
cestor. ,       1    •    1 

C'onspicuous  amidst  this  group  of  generals,  admirals,  statesmen, 
orators,  artists,  ])oets,  and  philosophers,— in  rank  and  fortune,  in 
social  position,  in  reputation,  in  learning,  culture,  and  retinement, 
theh-  equal  and  associate,  sits  the  young  physician  of  Cos.  AI- 
readv  had  his  risinu'  fame  reached  Athens,  and  when  the  city, 
overcrowded  with  "the  inhabitants  of  Attica,  driven  from  then- 
homes  by  the  armies  of  Sparta,  Avas  smitten  Avith  the  pestilence, 
he  Avas  summoned  from  his  island  home  in  the  ^Egean,  to  stay,  if 
he  could,  the  march  of  the  destroying  angel,  and  to  succor  AVith 
his  skill  those  Avho  had  fallen  under  the  shadoAv  of  its  Avings. 


On  a  gentle  declivity,  looking  tOAvard  the  south-Avest,  in  the 
small  island  of  Cos,  Iving  in  the  ^Egean  sea,  a  few  stadia  from  the 
coast  of  Asia  Elinor,"  stands  the  temple  of  ^Esculapius.  Its  Ionic 
columns,  and  its  ornamented  friezes  of  Pentelican  marble,  glitter 
and  Hash  in  the  sun-light,  as  Ave  Avatch  them  through  the  sAvay- 
ing  branches  of  the  ancient  oaks,  chestnuts,  and  elms,  that  make 
the  sacred  grove  of  the  temi)le.  In  the  centre  of  the  principal 
room,  or  cella,  of  the  temple,  and  fronting  the  entrance,  stand 
statues  of  ^Esculai-ius,  and  his  daughters,  Ilygiea  and  Panacea. 
On  each  side  of  the  entrance  are  marble  fonts  of  lustral  Avater, 
for  the  ]>reliminarv  purification  of  the  sick  visitors  to  the  temj.le. 

Near  a  column  of  the  temple,  and  holding  a  roll  of  jtapyrus  in 
bis  left  hand,  stands  Hippocrates,  (fathered  about  him,  in  ]«ic- 
tures^pie  little  trroups,  there  is  a  comi)any  of  (4reek  youths. 
Their  tasteful  and  eleirant  costumes,  their  earnest  and  intelligent 
faces,  and  their  general  air  and  bearing,  all  show  i)lainly  enough 
the  suiierior  refinement  and  culture  of  the  class  to  Avhich  they  be- 
long;. Tl-.ey  are  medical  stu.lents,  young  Asclei>iades,  Avho  have 
assembled  here  from  the  several  states  of  Greece,  to  acquire  the 
clinical  skill  and  ex]ierience  of  the  great  surgeon  and  physirian 
of  Cos,  and  to  listen  to  the  eloquent  less<.ns  of  the  illustrious 
jirofessor. 

Thirty  years  have  gone  by  since  Ave  met  him  at  the  bedside  ot 
the  dvinu'l'erii'les.  The  lapse  of  this  generation  has  thinned  his 
flowing  iialr.  and  sprinkled  his  beard  with  silver. 


41 


It  wouM  1)6  gratifying  if  we  oouM  know  soniethino;  of  his  ].ev- 
>4onal  history  aiiring'thi's  long  an«l  ai-tive  i)eri()(l  of  his  life.  We 
kiH)\v  hut  'little,  however,  and  this  little  is  dim  and  shadowy. 
That  he  had  led  a  life  of  activity  and  usefulness,  and  of  growing 
rei.utation,  and  that  he  had  visited  various  portions  of  Greece,  is 
certain.  What  he  himself  had  witnessed,  and  nuist  have  felt,  we 
know  well  enouyh.  He  had  seen,  for  this  whole  i.eriod,  his 
countrv  torn  and' distracted  by  civil  war  — state  arrayed  against 
state,  city  against  citv ;  he  liad  mourned  over  the  disastrous  ex- 
pedition of^Vthens  against  Syracuse:  and  shooting  athwart  a! 
the  nmrky  darkness  of  this  troubled  and  stc.rmy  period —  instead 
of  the  beiiignant  sun  of  Pericles  — the  l)aleful  rays  of  the  star  of 
Alcibiades,'setting  at  last,  but  too  late  for  his  country,  in  ignonuny 

and  lilood.  .       . 

I  have  not  departed  from  the  strictest  limits  ot  historical  pro- 
babilitv,  in  assigning  to  Hipi.ocrates  the  high  powers  of  didactic 
and  persuasive  oratorv.     One  of  the  most  potent  agencies  m  the 
develoi)ment  of  Greek  intellect,  and  the  advancement  ot  (-Jreek 
civilization,  consisted  in  the  general  prevalence  of  pul)lic  teaching 
and  recitation.     For  manv  successive  centuries,  it  was  from  the 
livinu-  lii)s  of  bards  and  Vhapsodists,  kindled  with  coals  from  the 
trlowTno-  altars  of  i)atriotism  and  religion,—  and  not  through  the 
iuediuin  of  anv  cold  and  silent  written  records,  that  the  immortal 
strains  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  rang  thnuigh  the  land,  an<l 
were  made  literally  familiar  as  liousehold  words.     Even  up  to  an 
advanced  period  of  (Grecian  culture,  the  art  of  writing  was  but 
little  practiced ;  and  it  was  bv  s].eech,  and  not  by  reaihng,  that 
statesmen,  poets,  orators,  philosophers,  and  historians  acted  upon 
their  dist'iples  an.l  the  public.     1Mien,  the  evidence  derived  from 
his    writinus   is    full    and   conclusive,  that  Hippocrates   was   not 
merelv  a  skillful  physician,  but  that  he   was  learne<l  m  all  the 
philosophy  and  literature  of  his  age.     Plato  speaks  of  the  Ascle- 
piades  his  cotemporaries,as  men  of  elegant  and  cultivate<l  minds, 
who  in  the  e.vi)lanations  they  give  to  their  patients,  go  even  to 
the  hei'dits  of  phih)soi.hv.     It   is  no  violation,  then,  ot  historic 
prol)abiTitv,  to  presume  that  the  great  philosojihic  and  i)ractical 
physician  — who   had   been   trained   in  this   unrivaled   school  ot 
human  si.eech  —  who  had  listene.l  to  tl.e  elo-iuence  of  I'ericles  m 
the  i.ublic  assemblies,  or  been  charmed  liy  the  '-collo.iuial  niagic 
of  Socrates,^'  in  the  market-i'lace,  should  have  l)een  himscit,  also, 
a  master  of  this  high  power  of  instructive  and  ])ersuasive  speech. 
It  is  by  no  forced  or  illeiiitimate  exercise  of  the  fancy,  that  we 
look  iKick  to  the  scene  I  have  endeavored  to  sketch,     And  Mith 
little  <lanoer  of  departing  far  from  the  truth,  we  may  imagine 
what  would  be  likelv  to  constitute  the  theme  .)f  his  discourse, 
especiallv-  if  the  occasion  was  one  of  unusual  interest  or  solemnity, 


42 


wiu'h  as  the  openinsj;  or  closinjjf  of  one  of  his  oourses  of  instruction 
—  the  IiUro(hu-tory  T.ectiire  —  or  the  Valedictory  Address  to  tlie 
grachiatiim  class  of  the  school  of  Cos,  at  tlie  teriii  of  the  tirst  year 
of  the  9rnh  Olyinj.aid. 

Tlie  character  of  lliiijiocrates.  his  jtosition.  his  close  observation 
of  nature,  his  kno\vledj;-e,  his  j)hilosni)liy,  the  times  in  which  he 
lived,  the  circumstances  Mhich  surrounded  him,  all  cons])ired  to 
make  him  a  jiolemic  and  a  reformer.  Ue  Avould  n-  )>"l)ly  take 
such  an  occasion  as  that  of  which  I  am  s|ieakinir,  tc  rn  and 

to  vindicate  the  ureat  prinei) lies  of  his  system;  ji.nd  .-iild  be 

likely  to  heu-in  Avith  an  exposition  of  the  errors  of  n.„-(iical  doc- 
trine and  practice,  most  imjiortant  and  most  irenerally  prevalent. 
I  do  not  supjtose  that  our  illustrious  historical  father  was  wholly 
exempt  from  the  intirniities  of  our  common  nature;  and  it  is  very 
possible  that  in  his  animadversions  ujion  the  system  of  his  Cnidian 
neighbors,  there  were  mingled  some  ingredients  more  spicy  than 
Attic  salt;  and  he  may  have  indulged,  ]>ei'haps,  in  some  allow- 
al)le  self-congratulation,  that  the  class  of  Cos  was  so  much  larijer 
than  that  at  Cnidus. 

I  suppose,  however,  that  as  President  of  the  college,  he  would, 
in  a  graceful  and  digniiied  exordium,  give  his  greeting  and  wel- 
come to  the  members  of  the  class;  he  would  express  his  gratifica- 
tion at  seeing  so  numerous  an  assemblage  from  so  numv  of  the 
states  of  (Greece  —  from  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East  and 
the  West  —  from  Attica,  and  Beotia,  and  the  Peloponnesus  — 
from  distant  Sicily,  and  even  from  Egypt. 

After  this,  or  some  similar  a]ij>ropriate  introduction,  he  would 
probably  continue  l)y  warning  his  hearei\s  against  the  subtle  ami 
dangerous  errors  of  superstition  —  of  the  old  theurgic  faith.  He 
would  speak  of  the  great  revolution  that  had  so  recently  taken 
place  in  the  Greek  mind,  even  then  only  jiartially  accomi)lished  ; 
be  Avould  describe  in  colors  such  as  only  he  could  use,  who  had 
felt  this  change  in  his  own  sj.irit,  and  who  had  witnessed  it  all 
about  him  —  the  gra(bial  dawn  and  the  h'nal  rising  of  the  central, 
solar  idea  of  a  simple  spiritual  theism,  of  fixed  laws,  of  invariable 
relations  and  sequences  of  events,  in  the  economy  of  nature.  As 
he  sketched  the  outlines  of  this  great  ami  pregnant  history,  he 
could  hardly  fail  to  linger  for  a  moment,  with  something  of  the 
passionate  enthusiasm  of  his  early  years,  and  Avith  something  also 
of  their  strong  and  simjde  faith,  upon  that  gorgeous  theuriric  and 
mythological  creation  of  theCireek  mind,  which  marked  its  legend- 
ary and  religious  period.  lie  would  speak  of  this  mythology,  and 
its  various  and  beautiful  legemls,  in  no  cynical  or  bigoted"  tone, 
but  with  i)hiloso]ihicil  toleration,  and  with  something  even  of 
loving  sympathy  and  admiration.  He  Avould  say  it  was  the  genial 
and  natural  product  of  the  quick,  susceptible, 'many-si<led  Creek 


t 


II 


48 


t 


II 


mind,  in  the  ])eriod  of  its  childhood  and  adolescence.  Kindling 
with  his  old  enthusiasm,  he  Avoiild  have  likened  that  early  age, 
peopled  with  its  gods  and  demi-goils,  its  heautit'iil  women  and  lieroic 
men,  to  its  own  young  A])ollo  —  the  hloom  of  immortal  yoxxth 
on  his  beaming  forehead,  his  flowing  locks  sweet  with  the  am- 
brosia of  the  dewy  morning  of  life,  and  all  his  form  radiant  with 
a  divine  beauty.  lie  would  have  said  that  the  present  high  civili- 
zation of  his  country  was  in  a  great  degree  the  growth  of  seed 
planted  in  that  genial  soil,  and  nurtured  by  that  genial  sun ;  that 
Greek  character,  and  art,  and  }»hilo80phy,  are  all  still  steeped  in 
the  glorious  light  of  the  old  Homeric  age. 

In  the  third  jdace,  he  would  have  warned  his  hearers  against 
the  seductive  but  dangerous  influences  of  the  philoso]»her8.  These 
men,  he  would  have  said,  are,  for  the  most  part,  idle  dreamers, 
and  they  are  notliing  else.  I  know  them  well.  They  affect 
superior  wisdom,  and  they  look  down  disdainfully  upon  the  phy- 
sician, and  the  ])atient  observer  of  nature.  They  seem  to  think 
that  the  economy  of  the  universe,  including  the  human  system,  in 
health  and  disease,  can  be  ascertained  and  understood  by  a  sort  of 
intellectual  divination,  which  they  call  wisdom  and  ])hilosophy, 
but  which  is  in  reality  only  empty  hypothesis  and  idle  specula- 
tion. He  would  then  have  entered  into  an  examination  of  these 
systems;  he  would  have  exhibited  their  radical  errors  and  defects 
—  he  would  have  comjiared  them  whli  the  humbler  ])hilosophy  of 
observation  and  experience,  and  he  would  have  shown  that  they 
ha<l  accomplished  nothing,  and  that  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
they  could  accomplish  nothing,  for  the  advancement  of  real 
knowledge. 

As  he  gazed  u])on  that  most  impressive  spectacle  before  him, — 
»o  many  of  his  young  countrymen,  gathered  at  the  peaceful  sum- 
mons of  science  and  humanity  from  all  portions  of  the  Grecian 
territi>ry,  tille<l  with  hojie,  with  ardor,  with  ]iromise,  litVs  full  and 
radiant  future  stretching  far  and  ,,iir  before  them, —  a  cloud  of 
sadness  ,^o  dd  hardly  fail  to  throw  its  shadow  over  his  features,  as 
he  remembered  the  long  thirty  years  of  civil  discord,  of  deadly 
internci'ine  strife,  through  which  his  country  had  just  passed  ;  and 
his  ck)sing  words  could  hardly  fail  to  rise  into  a  jiatriotic  and 
Pan-Hellenic  hymn,  the  burden  of  which  should  be,  that  the 
glory,  and  hajipiness,  and  safety  of  Greece,  were  to  be  found  in 
the  union  of  her  states:  that  they  whom  he  addressed  —  his  young 
friends  ami  disciples  —  were  the  common  and  eijual  heirs  of  the 
glory  of  Maiathon  and  Thermt)pyl;c :  that  they  all  s))oke  the  lan- 
uuaire  of  Homer;  that  while  thev  need  not  foriret,  but  mitrht  be 
proufl  even,  that  they  were  Spartans,  or  Atiienians,  or  I'hebans, 
or  Thessalians,  they  ought  to  rememlier  with  a  higher  jiride,  that 
they  Avere  also,  and  more  than  all,  <irceks;  that  they  had  a  com- 
mon country,  and  that  a  common  destiny  awaited  them. 


